Friday, August 06, 2004

BALLYBUNION, IRELAND (Aug. 6, 2004) - East Tennessee State University sophomore Rhys Davies (Brigend, Wales) won twice on Friday, helping the European team to an early lead over the United States in the Palmer Cup presented by Monster, a Ryder Cup-style competition being played this weekend at the Ballybunion Golf Club in County Kerry, Ireland. Davies won his singles match 1-up over the USA's Jason Hartwick, and earlier in the day he teamed up with Gareth Maybin to defeat Matt Every and Chris Nallen 1-up in a four-ball match. In all, Europe currently leads the USA 9-3 and needs only three points on the final day of the competition Saturday to retain the Cup for a second-straight year. A rising sophomore, Davies was the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year a year ago and finished first on the ETSU squad with a stroke average of 73.5. In addition, he finished second in the Southern Conference Championship at the Ridges Golf and Country Club back in April.