May 4, 2009
NCAA Golf Championship Information
Complete Release in PDF Format
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s golf team, ranked 7th in the nation, has been made the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Bowling Green Regional, which will be played May 14-16 at the Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky. Tech will be bidding to advance to the NCAA Finals for the 11th time in 12 years and for the 22nd time in the last 25 years.
Fourth-ranked Washington is the top seed in the Bowling Green regional, which includes 10 of the nation’s top 50 teams in the most recent Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.
Other top-50 teams in the Bowling Green regional are, in order of seed, No. 23 NC State, No. 18 UCLA, No. 27 Mississippi, No. 40 East Tennessee State, No. 44 Duke, No. 43 Louisville, No. 50 Ohio State and No. 45 Vanderbilt. Middle Tennessee State, Austin Peay State, Cleveland State and Bucknell round out the 14-team field.
“It’s as good as any of the fields in any of the regional,” said head coach Bruce Heppler. “We’ve got a really good chance. The committee moved people around to try and balance things, and they really did a nice job. We’re really looking forward to the opportunity. We’ve gotten better each time out, we’re done with school for the year, and we can really focus on playing some golf.”
Tech enters regional play with momentum, having captured the Atlantic Coast Conference championship (and thus an automatic bid to the NCAA championship) April 19. The Yellow Jackets also finished third in their own United States Collegiate Championship at the Golf Club of Georgia earlier in April, and event which featured 11 of the nation’s top 15 teams. Tech’s schedule this year is rated the second-toughest in all of college golf.
Each regional is a 54-hole stroke play event with 13 or 14 teams competing (a total of 81 teams earn regional bids). The top five finishers and one individual not on those teams in each regional advance to the 112th NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, May 26-30 at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
The other five regional tournaments will be held the same weekend at Austin, Texas (University of Texas Golf Club, top seed – Stanford), Galloway, N.J. (Galloway National Golf Club, top seed – Clemson), San Francisco, Calif. (Lake Merced Golf Club, top seed-Southern California), Sorrento, Fla. (Red Tail Golf Club, top seed-Georgia) and Stillwater, Okla. (Karsten Creek Golf Club, top seed-Oklahoma State).
Since the regional tournament format was instituted in 1989, Tech has failed to advance to the finals only once in 18 tries, and have won four. The Jackets have played in the NCAA Finals every year but three since 1985, finishing second four times.
2009 NCAA BOWLING GREEN REGIONAL GOLF TOURNAMENT
Site: Club at Olde Stone, Bowling Green, Ky.
Dates: May 14-16 (Thursday-Saturday), practice round on Wednesday, May 13
Host school: Western Kentucky
Admission: Free
NCAA Golf Championship Website
Teams competing (in order of seed): 1. Washington, 2. Georgia Tech, 3. NC State, 4. UCLA, 5. Mississippi, 6. East Tennessee State, 7. Duke, 8. Louisville, 9. Ohio State, 10. Vanderbilt, 11. Middle Tennessee State, 12. Austin Peay State, 13. Cleveland State, 14. Bucknell
Individuals competing (in order of seed): 1. Mike Van Sickle, Marquette, 2. Sebastian MacLean, Xavier, 3. Trey Bowling, Eastern Kentucky, 4. Tyler Duncan, Purdue, 5. John Montgomery, Alabama State
Format: 54 holes (18 each day). Each team has five players, with the low four individual scores each day counting toward the team total. The top five teams and one individual not on those teams after 54 holes advance to the 112th NCAA Men’s Division I Championship May 26-30 at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (all times local)
Wednesday, May 13 – practice rounds from 8 a.m. to 9:10 a.m. from the No. 1 and 10 tees, according to seed (Georgia Tech at 8 a.m. starting at No. 10 tee)
Thursday, May 14 – first round, tee times from 8:30 – 10:50 a.m. from the No. 1 and 10 tees (Georgia Tech will tee off at 8:30 a.m. from the No. 1 tee)
Friday, May 15 – second round, from 8:30 – 10:50 a.m. from the No. 1 and 10 tees (Georgia Tech will tee off at 9:40 a.m. from the No. 1 tee)
Saturday, May 16 – third and final round from 8:30 – 10:50 a.m. from the No. 1 and 10 tees (leaders tee off early, tee times based on 36-hole standing)
