May 20, 2010
Complete First Round Results in PDF Format
New Haven, Conn. - With a dominant opening round the Penn State men's golf team concluded the first day of NCAA East Regional play tied for second after firing a 3-under par 277. Battling head-to-head with Kent State, the Nittany Lions are just three strokes back of first-place team, No. 7 Texas, 274. Through the first round, Penn State is ahead of seven Top 50 ranked teams including No. 6 UCLA and No. 17 South Carolina.
"The team's effort was very solid today," said head coach Greg Nye. "Kevin, T.J., and Ernie played very well all day and Tommy fought back to put himself near the top of the leaderboard."
Senior Kevin Foley, ranked 47th in the nation, leads the Nittany Lions tied for fourth among the individual field with an opening round, 3-under par 67. Foley is back three strokes of No. 32 Cody Gribble of Texas who leads the tournament after posting a 6-under par 64, tying the Yale collegiate course record.
"Kevin played a smart round of golf today and he took advantage of a few opportunities he created, leaving a few out there," said Nye. " The golf course is a good fit for his game."
The duo of T.J. Howe (Osceola, Pa.) and Ernesto Marin (Miami, Fla.) both sit tied for ninth place with a score of 1-under par, 69. Junior Tommy McDonagh (East Norwalk, Conn.) shot a 2-over par, 72 to sit tied for 40th heading into tomorrow's second round. Rounding out the Penn State line-up is senior Jim Markovitz who posted a 6-over par 76, tying for 65th.
"We feel we have a good approach to this course and we will make a few adjustments to Friday's course set-up and just get after it," said Nye.
Teams will tee off beginning at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, with Penn State hitting the links at 9:10 a.m. The final 18 holes are scheduled for Saturday, May 22 as the 14 teams vie for top-5 positions to advance to the NCAA Championships, June 1-6. For live scoring please visit GolfStat and for Penn State updates visit GOPSUSports.com.