Friday, May 16, 2008

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (May 16, 2008) - After a difficult first round, the No. 21-ranked ETSU men's golf team regrouped for Friday's second round in the NCAA East Regional at Council Fire Golf Club, firing a 1-under 283 to finish 13th on the team leaderboard and just five strokes out of a coveted spot in the Top 10.

While the Top 10 teams in regional play advance to the NCAA Championships later this month, Georgia is leaving little doubt about which team will win this particular event. The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs currently hold the top spot by an impressive 19 strokes over Augusta State. Meanwhile, just 14 strokes separate second place from the 13^th spot.

The Buccaneers were led individually by a 3-under-par 68 from sophomore Seamus Power (Waterford, Ireland), while senior Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) continued his strong play, firing an even par 71 to finish with a team-best tie for 13^th on the individual leaderboard. Along with Shaw, freshman Rhys Enoch (Cornwall, England) also posted a 71, while senior Cian McNamara (Limerick, Ireland) recovered from a tough first round to post a solid effort with a 2-over 73.

"We definitely played a little better and hung in there today," said ETSU head coach Fred Warren. "Seamus played a very good round, but we still made some mistakes and didn't capitalize on some of the Par 5s. We need to putt better, so hopefully we've saved some of that for tomorrow. There's no question we have to play well tomorrow to catch the teams in front of us, but the guys seem up for it."

As for the rest of the field, UAB's Zach Sucher fired a remarkable 9-under-par 62 to move to 11-under for the event and take the top spot on the individual leaderboard. Sucher leads by two strokes over Georgia's Hudson Swafford.

Third and final round play in the NCAA East Regionals will conclude on Saturday. Fans wishing to follow the action live can do so by visiting Golfstat.com, while a complete wrap up of the day's events will be available nightly at ETSUBucs.com.