JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The ETSU men’s golf team was featured in Golf Channel’s preseason rankings on Thursday as Brentley Romine had the Buccaneers pegged No. 18 on his top 30 rankings list.
The Bucs, who return their top five players from a year ago, advanced to the NCAA Championship for a third consecutive year in 2023. ETSU also recorded three tournament wins as the Bucs won their third straight Southern Conference Championship, defended the crown at Hootie at Bulls Bay and won the General Hackler Championship for its first win of the season. In addition to the team success, Mats Ege (Kristiansand, Norway) and Algot Kleen (Fiskebackskil, Sweden) also won individual titles last season. Kleen won his first collegiate title at the Puerto Rico Classic, while Ege won at the General Hackler and the SoCon Championship.
Sitting at No. 18, ETSU was ahead of reigning national champion Florida (19th), along with Oklahoma State (20th), Arizona (21st), Georgia (22nd), Illinois (23rd), California (24th), Ole Miss (25th), North Florida (26th), Colorado State (27th), Baylor (28th), Mississippi State (29th) and Wake Forest (30th).
Below is what Romine had to say about the Bucs.
- East Tennessee State: The Bucs have quietly qualified for each of the past three NCAA Championships, and they return a trio of players who have played in all three – fifth-year seniors Mats Ege, Archie Davies and Remi Chartier. Add junior Algot Kleen and head coach Jake Amos has four players who have won at least one college individual title. Walker Cup snub Matthew Dodd-Berry rounds out arguably the best mid-major top five in the country.
For a full listing of Romine’s top 30 collegiate teams, please click here.
To go with their team and individual wins in 2022-23, ETSU also set single-season program records in birdies (688), eagles (23), par or better rounds (28) and scoring average (282.71). The Blue & Gold also broke single-season school records for low round, low round vs. par, 36-hole total and 54-hole total scores a year ago.