May 31, 2006
Sunriver, Ore. – Bruce Heppler was named coach of the year in the South Region, while Roberto Castro, Kevin Larsen and Cameron Tringale all were named to the All-South Region team announced Wednesday by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
The Eaton Golf Pride Regional Coaches of the Year include Binghamton’s Nick Lasky (New England), Columbia’s Rich Mueller (Mid-Atlantic), Georgia Tech’s Bruce Heppler (South), Tom Shaw of Tulane (Southeast), Indiana’s Mike Mayer (Midwest), Mike McGraw of Oklahoma State (Central), Lamar’s Brad McMakin (South Central), Bruce Brockbank of Brigham Young (Southwest) and UCLA’s O.D. Vincent (Pacific). The nine regional coaches are also candidates for the Dave Williams Eaton Golf Pride National Coach of the Year.
Tech has won three tournaments this year under Heppler, who has played at least two freshmen in every event, and the Yellow Jackets are playing in the NCAA Championship for the ninth straight year. Shaw, recently named head coach at Vanderbilt following a six-year stint at Tulane, is a 1991 Georgia Tech graduate who played for years for the Yellow Jackets and was twice named a GCAA All-America Scholar.
Each of the nine PING All-Region teams are comprised of 15 golfers and any player ranked in the top 75 nationally in either Golfstat or the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Members of the PING All-Region teams are eligible for PING All-America honors.
Larsen, a junior from Santa Barbara, Calif., who ranks 18th nationally in the Golfweek rankings, has been Tech’s top player over the course of the 2005-06 year, leading Tech in stroke average (72.27) with seven top-20 finishes. Castro, a junior from Alpharetta, Ga., ranks No. 23 with seven top-20 efforts. Tringale, a freshman from Laguna Niguel, Calif., ranks No. 19 nationally and has won two events this year, the UH-Hilo Invitational and the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship.
The South Region team also includes Ryan Blaum of Duke, Rhys Davies of East Tennessee State, Brian Duncan of Clemson, Jake Grodzinsky of Duke, Vince Hatfield of Clemson, Dustin Johnson of Coastal Carolina, Stephen Lewton of NC State, Stephen Poole of Clemson, Kyle Reifers of Wake Forest, Gareth Shaw of East Tennessee State, Ray Sheedy of Charlotte, Webb Simpson of Wake Forest, Scott Stallings of Tennessee Tech and Martin Ureta of North Carolina.
