Monday, March 28, 2005

            JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 28, 2005) - East Tennessee State sophomore Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) continues to put his name on some very prestigious lists.

            Last week, Bank of America, in cooperation with Colonial Country Club, The Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), announced the 10 semifinalists for The 2005 Ben Hogan Award - and Davies made the list. The most prestigious award in men's college golf, The Hogan is presented annually to the top men's NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or junior college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during the last 12 months. 

            "The list has six seniors and two juniors, so I think this recognition not only reflects on the level of Rhys' play, but also on the amount of respect he is already receiving around college golf," said ETSU head coach Fred Warren. "To be considered this highly at such a young age is a remarkable achievement."

Along with Davies, the other semifinalists include former NCAA medalist Alejandro Cañizares of Arizona State; U.S. Open low amateur Spencer Levin of New Mexico; Oklahoma State's Pablo Martin; U.S. Amateur, U.S. Public Links and NCAA Champion Ryan Moore of UNLV; Indiana's Jeff Overton; Aron Price of Georgia Southern; Pepperdine's Michael Putnam; Matthew Rosenfeld of Texas; and Georgia Tech's Nicholas Thompson.

The Hogan Award selection committee will announce three finalists on April 20. The three finalists will attend The Hogan Award banquet on Saturday, May 14 at Colonial Country Club - the Saturday prior to the Bank of America Colonial - with the recipient announced that evening.

Davies, who has won three individual tournament championships in his young collegiate career, has already won back-to-back tournaments this spring and is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation. In addition, last summer he finished 25^th at the World Amateur Championships and helped the European team to a win over the United States in the 2004 Palmer Cup.

Back on March 6, Davies took his first tournament title of the spring season with a victory at the Seminole Intercollegiate in Tallahassee, Fla. He then turned the trick again, firing a three-round score of 2-under-par and capturing the Gen. Jim Hackler Invitational title in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He was named the SoCon Golfer of the Week back-to-back thanks to those victories. The 2003-04 SoCon Freshman of the Year, Davies' three wins include a victory at the Carpet Capital Intercollegiate back in November of 2004.

The Buccaneers, who have played in three tournaments already this spring, will return to action on April 2 at the Cleveland Golf Classic in Augusta, Ga.