Wednesday, June 01, 2005

            OWINGS MILLS, Md. (June 1, 2005) - East Tennessee State sophomore Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) fired a 5-over-par 75 during first round play in the NCAA Championships Wednesday at the Caves Valley Golf Club. The four-round, four-day event will continue on Thursday with second round play.

            Davies, who earned a spot in the championships with a second-place finish in the NCAA East Regional and entered the event as the No. 2-ranked player in the country by Golfweek, was 1-over-par after 14 holes and tied for 21^st on the individual leaderboard. However, problems with his driving accuracy on the final four holes resulted in two bogeys and a double bogey the rest of the way.

            "It was just a bad finish," said Davies, who was selected to the PING South All-Region team on Tuesday. "I was struggling from the start and got it back a little bit at the turn, but on the last few holes I missed the fairways and that hurt me. There's a long way to go and I can't worry about how many strokes back I am. I just need to build a little momentum and try to be realistic."

            After finishing the front nine at 3-over, Davies birdied No. 10 and 12 to get to 1-over. But with his struggles at the end of the round, he currently finds himself 10 strokes off the pace set by Georgia's Kevin Kisner and Augusta State's Major Manning, who both fired 5-under 65s on Wednesday.

            "It's a great golf course, but a very difficult course," said ETSU head coach Fred Warren. "Rhys has had so much success this season, but today he was not driving the ball as well as he normally does. He's disappointed right now, but he's mentally one of the toughest players I've ever coached."

            Davies will be back on the course early Thursday morning with an 8:48 tee time. ETSU fans can watch Davies' progress live by clicking on the link provided above or by visiting Golfstat.com. Fans can also visit ETSUBucs.com and the end of each day's play for a complete wrap up.

NCAA Championships

Caves Valley Golf Club - Owings Mills, Md. -- Par 70 - 7,131 yards First Round - Wednesday Individual Leaders

Rhys Davies' first round scorecard