Friday, June 02, 2006

            SUNRIVER, Ore. (June 2, 2006) - Needing to make a move during Friday's third round, the ETSU men's golf team was unable to pick up the strokes it needed to finish in the Top 15 on the team leaderboard and make the cut for Saturday's fourth and final round in the NCAA Championships at the Crosswater Club at Sunriver Resort.

Instead, the Buccaneers fired their second straight over-par round of the championship, finishing at 10-over 298 Friday and placing 21^st at 21-over for the event (286-301-298=885). In all, only two teams would finish a challenging day below par, with Washington leading the event by three strokes heading into Saturday's finale. On the individual leaderboard, Jonathan Moore of Oklahoma State moved ahead of two-round leader Kyle Reifers of Wake Forest by one stroke at nine-under for the event.

While the Bucs did not make the cut, head coach Fred Warren said there is much to learn from this championship and a great deal to be proud of this 2005-06 season.

"We played in tough conditions again today, and we just didn't get it done," Warren said. "But there a lot for us to build on as a team. We got back to the NCAAs for the first time in five years, we'll finish with a Top 15 ranking, and we did that with a very young team. We're disappointed, but four of our five guys were playing in the NCAAs for the first time and obviously they will learn from this experience. We just have to see if we can get back here next year and play better."

The one bright spot for ETSU on Friday was the play of junior Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales). Davies, who entered the event as the country's No. 4-ranked player, started the day tied for 80^th at 3-over, but posted a 2-under 70 to move 50 spots on the individual leaderboard and place tied for 30^th. Unfortunately, he missed the individual cut by one stroke, as the top six players not on a Top 15 team also advance to Saturday's final round.

Meanwhile, the rest of the ETSU roster struggled on their last day in Oregon, as no other Buc player finished at or below par. In fact, sophomore Cian McNamara (Limerick, Ireland) fired the team's second lowest score of the day with a 2-over 74, and joined fellow sophomore Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) with a tie for 63^rd at 4-over for the event.

The Bucs 2005-06 season comes to a close with a return to national prominence thanks to a trip to the NCAA Championships for the 15^th time in program history. ETSU also ended the year ranked in the Top 15 in each of the four major college polls, and enjoyed its first regular season tournament win since 2001.

To keep up with ETSU men's golf throughout the summer months and into the 2006-07 season, visit ETSUBucs.com. And fans can catch final round action in the NCAA Championships by clicking on Golfstat.com for live scoring.