Eagles Land at NCAA Florida Regional
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Golf team received its third consecutive NCAA Regional bid as announced by the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Committee Monday evening. The Eagles, automatic qualifiers as winners of the 2011 Southern Conference crown last month, are one of 81 teams contending for the national title in the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship.
"When you get to regionals, the field is going to be good," said Head Coach Larry Mays. "I was really proud of the guys for stepping up at the conference championship to get a ticket this year. Getting that tee time is what was important to us, and that's our goal every year."
Six sites play host to 54-hole tournaments May 19-21st. The low five teams in each region along, with the low individual not on the selected teams, advances to the 2011 NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla., on May 31st-June 5th.
Georgia Southern travels to Ocala, Fla., and plays at the Golden Ocala Golf Club in the Florida Regional. The Eagles are the 13th seed in a field that includes: Arkansas, Augusta State, Baylor, Central Florida, Florida, Jackson State, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Missouri, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Oregon and Southeastern Louisiana.
The other five regional sites are: Pete Dye River Course, Blacksburg, Virginia, (Virginia Polytechnic and State University, host), Wolf Run Golf Club, Zionsville, Indiana, (Indiana University, host), Colorado National Golf Club, Erie, Colorado, (University of Colorado, host), The Farms Golf Club, Rancho Santa Fe, California, (University of San Diego, host), Omni Tucson National Resort, Tucson, Arizona, (University of Arizona, host).
Since taking over the golf program in 2001, Head Coach Larry Mays has guided the Eagles to nine postseason bids in his 11-year tenure. Under Mays' tutelage, Georgia Southern has advanced to the NCAA Championship four times (2001, 2002, 2005 and 2010). His 2001 squad became the first Georgia Southern team since 1989 to make a NCAA Championship appearance. The Eagles earn a regional bid as an automatic qualifier for only the third time, winning the SoCon title previously in 2003 and 2006.
Last year, Georgia Southern carded its lowest round of the tournament to finish tied for fourth place (288-293-282=863) in the Atlanta Regional. The top-five finish punched the Eagles' ticket to their 14th NCAA Championship appearance and first since 2005. Senior Logan Blondell (Lakeland, Fla.) fired a 2-under 208 at the par-70 7,137-yard Capital City Crabapple Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga., to finish second. Blondell finished two strokes behind Oklahoma State's Peter Uihlein, a 2011 Ben Hogan Award finalist and the 2010 U.S. Amateur Champion.
The Georgia Southern NCAA Regional team features the same five-man lineup that won the 2011 SoCon title and three players from the 2010 NCAA Championship run: Blondell, Lewis Gruber, Florian Sander, Matt Deal and Hayden Anderson. Blondell, who finished third at the SoCon Championships, makes his third straight NCAA postseason appearance. The senior holds the team's lowest stroke average at 73.43. Junior Lewis Gruber makes his first NCAA Regional appearance after joining the Eagles this season as a transfer. The Tallahassee, Fla., native shot an 8-under 208 at last month's SoCon Tournament to take runner-up honors. Gruber holds the team's third-lowest stroke average at 74.67.
Sander (Bregenz, Austria) and Deal (Statesboro, Ga.) join Blondell as returners from last year's postseason team. Sander, finishing in a 34th-place tie at last year's regional, has the second-lowest stroke average on the team with a 74.30. Concluding his first regional appearance with a tie for 58th place last season, Deal enters the 2011 NCAA postseason with a top-25 finish at the SoCon Championship.
Freshman Hayden Anderson rounds out the five-man lineup. Anderson used the final round of the SoCon Championship to make the biggest jump in the individual standings for the Eagles. The Knoxville, Tenn., native moved up 20 spots to a tie for 21st-place finish with a 5-over 221 (76-75-70).
"Anytime you play well you are going to build some confidence and that's what we had been missing most of the year," said Mays on the team's success at the SoCon Championship. "We had not had a lot of consistent play, so to play three good rounds at conference and come-from-behind to win was huge for the program and gives us a lot of confidence going into regionals."
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Golden Ocala Golf Club - Ocala, Florida
University of Florida, host
Teams
Florida
Augusta State
Arkansas
Oregon
North Carolina State
UCF
Baylor
Kennesaw State
Notre Dame
Missouri
Southeastern Louisiana
Jacksonville State
Georgia Southern
Jackson State
Mocs Men's Golf Sent to Colorado for NCAA South Central Regional
SoCon Golfer of the Year Stephan Jaeger leads Chattanooga into its fifth straight regional appearance
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's golf team is heading to Erie, Colo., for the NCAA South Central Regional at Colorado National Golf Club the NCAA announced Monday. This is the fifth straight year the team has qualified for regionals.
"I wasn't really worried about where we were going, I'm just happy to finally know," said head coach Mark Guhne. "We've earned this shot and now we need to take advantage of it."
Regional play starts Thursday, May 19, on the par 72, 7,753-yard tract. The three-day, 54-hole event closes on Saturday, May 21. There are 13 teams and 10 individuals playing at this regional site. The top five teams and one individual from a non-advancing team move on to the NCAA Championship May 31-June 5 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.
Chattanooga is ranked No. 35 by Golfstat and No. 39 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index. UTC received the sixth-seed in the regional.
While the Mocs has not won a team title thus far in 2010-11 they have finished second three times with wins over No. 12 Georgia (No. 2 seed in South Central Regional), No. 14 Iowa and No. 22 Stanford. Junior Stephan Jaeger (Munich, Germany) won the 2011 LSU National Invitational by seven shots over runner-up Vince India of Iowa, the seventh-ranked player in the nation. He was the lone player under par at minus seven, 209.
Freshman Chris Robb (Aberdeenshire, Scotland) won in his second start at the Springhill Suites Collegiate on the Country Club of South Carolina in September. He shot a team season-best nine-under par 207 with rounds of 66 (-6) - also a team best - 69 and 72.
Jaeger leads the Mocs into regionals recording his second straight SoCon Golfer of the Year award. He was joined on the All-SoCon team (3rd straight) by Benni Weilguni (Langelois, Austria) and Steven Fox (Hendersonville, Tenn.). Weilguni and Davis Bunn (Knoxville, Tenn.) earned all-freshman mention as well. Despite a sterling season with three top 15 wins and easily the top-ranked school in the league with such a young team, Guhne did not win his fourth coach of the year honor.
This is the program's fifth regional appearance, all in the last five years. The 2009 squad finished third in the South Central Regional at this season's national championship host, Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.
"It's always a special feeling heading into regionals," said head coach Mark Guhne. "I'm excited because we have a good opportunity to advance to the finals.
"This is a young team, but we've beaten schools that have national championship aspirations," Guhne added. "We know we can compete at that level, now is the time to go prove it."
Live scoring will be available on the men's golf schedule page on GoMocs.com along with round-by-round coverage.
Several Mocs will compete in the Tennessee State Open at Brentwood Country Club (Tuesday-Thursday) along with the Signal Mountain Invitational this weekend where Jaeger is defending champion.
NCAA South Central Regional
May 19-21 at Colorado National Golf Course
Erie, Colo.
1) Oklahoma State
2) Georgia
3) Auburn
4) Arizona State
5) Clemson
6) CHATTANOOGA
7) TCU
8) UNF
9) New Mexico State
10) Northwestern
11) Colorado State
12) San Jose State
13) Denver
Ind) Michael Whitehead, Rice
Ind) Gabe Maier, Wyoming
Ind) Steven Lecuyer, Central Arkansas
Ind) Derek Plucienski, Southern Miss
Ind) Michael McGowan, North Carolina
Ind) Geoff Gonzalez, Cal Poly
Ind) Jarred Bossio, Idaho
Ind) Andrew Wyatt, Nebraska
Ind) Cody Schweinefus, Drake
Ind) C.G. Mercatoris, Robert Morris
Davidson's Fountain Draws No. 8 Seed in NCAA Men's Golf Virginia Tech Region
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Southern Conference Individual Medalist Richard Fountain will compete for Davidson as the No. 8 individual seed in the NCAA Men's Golf Virginia Tech Regional hosted at The Pete Dye River Course at Virginia Tech May 19-21 in Radford, Va., the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship Committee announced Monday evening.
Thirteen teams will compete in the Virginia Tech Regional, including Atlantic Coast Conference champion No. 5 Georgia Tech, No. 9 Louisiana State, No. 16 Duke and No. 18 Virginia. Fountain is one of 10 additional individual competitors that will strive to be the low individual not on one of the low five teams that will advance to the finals.
The Raleigh, N.C. freshman will be the first Davidson golfer to compete in an NCAA regional golf tournament since the regional tournament format was adopted in 1989.
The Virginia Tech Regional is one of six 54-hole regional tournaments being conducted May 19-21 to determine the 30 qualifying teams and six individuals not on those qualifying teams who will compete in the finals May 31-June 5 at Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Okla.
Fountain will be joined in the Virginia Tech Region by Southern Conference foe Chandler Brazeal, who is the No. 6 seed.
Southern Conference team champion Georgia Southern will compete at Golden Ocala GolfClub in Ocala, Fla. as the 13th seed in the Florida Regional, while Chattanooga earned an at-large bid and will compete in the Colorado Regional at the Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, Colo. as the No. 6 seed. Mecklenburg County rival Charlotte will be the No. 10 seed in the Indiana Regional at Wolf Run Golf Club in Zionsville, Ind.
The Arizona Regional will be held at the Omni Tucson Nationals Resort in Tucson, Ariz. and the San Diego Regional will be held at The Farms Golf Course in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
The last time a Wildcat golfer competed in an NCAA golf championship event was 38 years ago. Rusty Boyd, the SoCon individual medalist, competed in the 1973 NCAA national tournament (won for the third-consecutive year by Texas' Ben Crenshaw at the Stillwater Golf & Country Club in Stillwater, Okla.) Boyd placed61st in the field of 36 teams with a four-round score of 299 (71-73-72-83).
This past April at the Country Club of South Carolina in Florence, S.C., Fountain became the first Davidson golfer since Boyd in 1973 to win individual medalist honors at the SoCon Tournament, thus earning the league's automatic individual NCAA Regional. He fired a tournament-low, final-round, five-under-par 67, which included a birdie on the final hole, to win by one stroke at 207 (68-72-67), nine-under par.
Wofford Men's Golfer Brazeal Selected to Compete in NCAA Golf Championship
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. - Wofford freshman golfer, Chandler Brazeal, has been selected to compete in the 2011 NCAA Golf Championship at the Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech regional on May 19-21.
Brazeal, who finished tied for fifth in the final SoCon standings with a 72.81 stroke per round average and earned All-Freshman Honors at the SoCon Championship with a 15th place finish, is one of eight individual selected to play at the Virginia Tech Regional. There are a total of six regionals that will be played on May 19-21. The low five teams from each regional and the top individual not on one of those five teams will advance to the finals on May 13 through June 5 at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Brazeal is one of two Southern Conference golfers selected to compete in the NCAA Championship, while Georgia Southern's team will represent the SoCon as the conference championship winner at the Ocala, Florida site and Chattanooga made the field at the Erie, Colorado site.
This is the second consecutive season the men's golf program has sent someone to the NCAA Championships. In 2010, Garrett Medeiros and Mark Joye competed in Atlanta, Georgia in the regional. Medeiros finished 41st, while Joye took 67th.
Complete List of Teams and Individuals in the NCAA Golf Championship Radford, Va Regional
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Georgia Tech [Atlantic Coast Conference]
2. LSU
3. Duke
4. Virginia
5. Oklahoma
6. Kent State [Mid-American Conference]
7. Virginia Tech
8. Ole Miss
9. East Carolina
10. North Carolina-Wilmington [Colonial Athletic Association]
11. Coastal Carolina
12. Lamar
13. Yale [The Ivy League]
Individuals:
1. TJ Howe, Penn State
2. John Popeck, Maryland
3. Jake Katz, Binghamton University
4. Vaita Guillaume, Campbell
5. Adam Hofmann, Vanderbilt
6. Chandler Brazeal, Wofford
7. Matt Moot, Campbell
8. Richard Fountain, Davidson