Thursday, May 15, 2008

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (May 15, 2008) - ETSU senior Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) opened Thursday's first round of play in the NCAA East Regional with a 4-under-par 67,  finishing tied for seventh on the individual leaderboard and putting himself in contention for individual medalist honors. However, his efforts were unable to save the ETSU men's golf team from a tough day at Council Fire Golf Club.

The 21^st-ranked Buccaneers fired a score of 2-over 286 and are currently tied for 17^th on the team leaderboard, seven spots out of a coveted spot in the top 10. The best 10 squads following Saturday's third and final round will earn a spot in the NCAA Championships later this month. No. 1-ranked Georgia currently leads the event at 19-under, eight strokes better than second place Augusta State.

"Gareth played well, was really solid and held us in there," said ETSU head coach Fred Warren. "We really should have played better, but we didn't get any help from the weather. For the teams in the morning the weather was just ideal, but we were in the afternoon and it definitely changed conditions out there. That's no excuse though. We should have still played a better round. We've dug a hole now, so we need some of the guys to play better tomorrow."

Shaw, the Atlantic Sun Conference individual champion, birdied three of the first five holes and finished the day with seven birdies and three bogeys to post a 67. Meanwhile, teammate Seamus Power (Waterford, Ireland) finished at even-par 71 to tie for 46^th. Other ETSU scores on the day included a pair of 3-over 74s from freshmen Rhys Enoch (Cornwall, England) and Simon Doherty (Belfast, Northern Ireland) to tie for 96^th, while senior Cian McNamara (Limerick, Ireland) struggled to a 10-over 81 and is currently 138^th on the leaderboard.

As for the rest of the field, Augusta State's Henrik Norlander and Georgia's Hudson Swafford are tied for the lead with 6-under scores of 65, while four other players are tied for third at 66.

Second round of action is set for Friday, while third and final round play 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.