Eagle Golf Earns NCAA Regional Bid
5/11/2009 11:49:00 AM | Men's Golf
STATESBORO, GA ? The Georgia Southern men's golf team earned an at-large bid to the 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships to be held May 14-16, as announced by the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Committee Monday evening. The postseason bid marks the seventh appearance in nine seasons by the Eagles in the reign of head coach Larry Mays and the first since 2006.
The Eagles, the No. 9 seed in the 14-team field, will travel to Sorrento, Florida for the 54-hole event hosted by University of Central Florida and the Central Florida Sports Commission. Competition will be contested on the Red Tail Golf Club, a 7-152 yard par 72 course. Georgia takes the top seed in the Regional, followed by Indiana, South Carolina and Central Florida.
“We are excited to be going to Regionals. We are going to Orlando which is close to home. We have friends and family in Florida that can come watch us play,” said head coach Larry Mays. “My first initial look at the teams, we are in the toughest region. We are going to have to go down and play well if we want to compete and go to Nationals, which is our ultimate goal.”
The low five teams in each region along with the low individual not on the selected teams will advance to the NCAA Championships to be held in Toledo, Ohio from May 26-30, hosted by University of Toledo.
Georgia Southern will compete in the NCAA Regional for the eighth time in program history and will look for its 11th NCAA Championship birth.
Under the tutelage of Coach Mays, the squad finished sixth in the 2002 NCAA Regional, marking the highest placed finish by the Eagles under Mays. The Eagles will look for their fourth Championship appearance since Mays took the reign of the program in 2001.
The Eagles are coming out of one of the best seasons in the Mays era, witnessing three team titles and three individual crowns. Individual honors included the SoCon Player of the Year in Logan Blondell and SoCon Coach of the Year honors, as well as Drew Lethem becoming the first SoCon Individual Medalist since Georgia Southern joined the conference in 1991.
The team took tournament crowns at the Mizuno Savannah Intercollegiate and Raines Development Group Intercollegiate in the fall season and turned around in the spring to capture a first place tie at the Kauai Collegiate Cup in Hawaii. Sophomore Logan Blondell captured his first two tournament medals this season, taking the title at the Mizuno Savannah Intercollegiate and the Kauai Collegiate Cup.
Senior Drew Lethem recorded his first collegiate career title and became the first Eagle in 19 years as a member of the Southern Conference to take the crown at the SoCon Men's Golf Championship. Lethem entered the Georgia Southern record books after firing off one of the lowest rounds in school history with an opening round 6-under 66. He succeeded his opening round with two even par 72s to close out the tournament at 6-under par 210 for the top finish.
Listed below are the teams and individuals selected to compete in the championships. Teams winning automatic qualification are designated by their conference in parenthesis.
Galloway National Golf Club ? Galloway, New Jersey
Hosted by Columbia University
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Illinois (Big Ten Conference)
4. Tennessee
5. Wake Forest
6. Colorado State
7. Kent State (Mid-American Conference)
8. Coastal Carolina (Big South Conference)
9. Virginia
10. Penn State
11. Minnesota
12. VCU (Colonial Athletic Association)
13. Columbia (Ivy Group)
14. Sacred Heart (Northeast Conference)
Individuals:
1. Kevin O'Connell, North Carolina
2. Dan Woltman, Wisconsin
3. Robert Karlsson, Liberty
4. Peter Williamson, Dartmouth
5. Eric Hawerchak, Central Connecticut
University of Texas Golf Club ? Austin, Texas
Hosted by the University of Texas
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Stanford
2. Florida
3. Texas Tech
4. Texas
5. UNLV
6. California
7. Lamar (Southland Conference)
8. Michigan
9. Texas-Arlington
10. Virginia Tech
11. Mississippi State
12. New Mexico State (Western Athletic Conference)
13. Jackson State (Southwestern Athletic Conference)
Individuals:
1. Glenn Northcutt, Auburn
2. Ken Looper, New Orleans
3. Cole Moreland, Auburn
4. Adam Cornelson, New Orleans
5. Cedric Scotto, Southeastern Louisiana
6. Jeff Gerlich, Texas State
7. Matthew Carvell, Southeastern Louisiana
8. Corey Roberson, Texas State
9. Fergal Rafferty, Sam Houston
10. Gonzalo Berlin, Jacksonville State
Lake Merced Golf Club ? Daly City, California
Hosted by the University of San Francisco
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Southern California
2. Texas A&M
3. Arizona State
4. San Diego State
5. UC Davis (Big West Conference)
6. Oregon
7. New Mexico
8. Colorado
9. UC Irvine
10. Kansas State
11. Oregon State
12. San Diego
13. San Francisco (West Coast Conference)
Individuals:
1. Grant Doverspike, Fresno State
2. Brady Johnson, Brigham Young
3. Nick Delio, Cal State Northridge
4. Scott Smith, Nevada
5. Geoff Gonzalez, Cal Poly
6. Robbie Fillmore, Brigham Young
7. Mark Hubbard, San Jose State
8. Kevin Tucker, Washington State
9. Bhavik Patel, Fresno State
10. Greg Moss, Loyola Marymount
Red Tail Golf Club ? Sorrento, Florida
Hosted by the University of Central Florida and the Central Florida Sports Commission
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Georgia (Southeastern Conference)
2. Indiana
3. South Carolina
4. Central Florida (Conference USA)
5. Florida State
6. Arizona
7. Augusta State
8. Kentucky
9. Georgia Southern
10. Georgia State
11. Iowa
12. Charlotte (Atlantic 10 Conference)
13. Campbell (Atlantic Sun Conference)
14. Loyola (Maryland) (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
Individuals:
1. Zach Sucher, UAB
2. M. Etienne Bussierres, South Alabama
3. Josh Brock, North Carolina-Wilmington
4. Bill Jones III, Mercer
5. Kelly McHugh, Florida Atlantic
The Club at Olde Stone ? Bowling Green, Kentucky
Hosted by Western Kentucky University
Teams:
1. Washington (Pacific-10 Conference)
2. Georgia Tech (Atlantic Coast Conference)
3. North Carolina State
4. UCLA
5. Mississippi
6. East Tennessee State
7. Duke
8. Louisville (Big East Conference)
9. Ohio State
10. Vanderbilt
11. Middle Tennessee (Sun Belt Conference)
12. Austin Peay State (Ohio Valley Conference)
13. Cleveland State (Horizon League)
14. Bucknell (The Patriot League)
Individuals:
1. Mike Van Sickle, Marquette
2. Sebastian MacLean, Xavier
3. Trey Bowling, Eastern Kentucky
4. Tyler Duncan, Purdue
5. John Montgomery, Alabama State
Karsten Creek Golf Club ? Stillwater, Oklahoma
Hosted by Oklahoma State University
Teams:
1. Oklahoma State (Big 12 Conference)
2. Arkansas
3. TCU (Mountain West Conference)
4. LSU
5. Chattanooga (Southern Conference)
6. Pepperdine
7. Michigan State
8. Baylor
9. Northwestern
10. Tulsa
11. Denver
12. Wichita State (Missouri Valley Conference)
13. Oral Roberts (The Summit League)
Individuals:
1. Trent Peterson, South Dakota State
2. Peter Malnati, Missouri
3. Tom Whitney, Air Force
4. Kelly Kraft, SMU
5. Eric Onesi, Old Dominion
6. Chris Ross, Eastern Michigan
7. Roger Sloan, UTEP
8. Nate Page, Southern Utah
9. Devin Carrey, Louisiana-Lafayette
10. James Kwon, SMU
