|
May 13, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men's golf team begins play in the NCAA Regional Championship as the No. 11 seed at 9:15 a.m. Thursday on the University of North Carolina's Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C. Live scoring for all rounds will be available from Golfstat, linked above.
PSU IN THE NCAA REGIONAL
This is Penn State's first trip to the NCAA Regional Championships since 2010 when it advanced to the NCAA Nationals and 21st overall since the field expanded in 1990. The Nittany Lions have four Top 10 finishes in the regional round, including a program-high No. 4 finish in 2010. Penn State has 33 overall appearances in postseason NCAA action, dating back to 1947.
TOURNAMENT INFO
UNC Finley Golf Course is a par-72, 7,242-yard course. Each team will take part in a three-day, 54-hole tournament, with 18 holes played each day, Thursday-Saturday, May 14-16. Tee times begin at 8 a.m. Thursday and Friday and 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.
ABOUT THE FIELD
Of the 13 teams in the field, eight are ranked in the Top 50 according to Golfstat. Florida State comes in at #1, followed by #11 Stanford, #19 North Carolina, #24 Kennesaw State, #25 Wake Forest, #36 Clemson, #37 Florida, and #50 Charlotte.
The Blue and White will compete against a 13-team field, plus 10 individuals not on those teams. Penn State is the No. 11 seed in its region consisting of Florida State, Stanford, UNC, Kennesaw State, Wake Forest, Clemson, Florida, Georgia Regents, UNC Charlotte, McNeese State, Miami (Ohio) and Loyola (Maryland).
The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each of the six regional tournaments will advance to the finals. The finals will be conducted May 29-June 3 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida.
AT A GLANCE
The Nittany Lions earned a spot in the NCAA regional field after finishing tied for third in the Big Ten Championship with a four-round score of 1181 (295-300-284-302) at Victoria National in Newburgh, Ind.
Penn State was led to the Top 3 finish in the 14-team field by senior Xander McDonald-Smith (Rockaway Park, N.Y.), who carded a 294 and earned a tied-for-13th finish. McDonald-Smith moved up seven places on the final day of play with 73 strokes on the last 18 holes.
Fellow senior Jens Talbert (Little Rock, Ark.) accumulated 297 strokes through 72 holes and placed 22nd on the leaderboard. Freshman Cole Miller (New Tripoli, Pa.) tallied a 301 and a tied-for-32nd finish in his conference tournament debut. Junior JD Dornes (Lancaster, Pa.) and sophomore Christian Elliott shot a pair of 305's to round out the Penn State lineup.