Friday, November 04, 2005

ROCKY FACE, Ga. (Nov. 4, 2005) -ETSU junior Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) fired a 2-under-par 70 to tie for seventh on the individual leaderboard and help the ETSU men's golf team to a seventh-place standing following first-round play Friday in the Carpet Capital Collegiate hosted by Georgia Tech at The Farm Golf Club.

Davies, who is attempting to defend the title he won at The Farm a year ago, is also trying to tie Tiger Woods' collegiate mark of eight wins in a calendar year with a victory this weekend. Currently, the Welshman is three strokes off the pace set by Georgia's Chris Kirk, who fired a 5-under 67 during the first round.

On the team leaderboard, the Bucs finished with a score of 7-over 295 and trail first-place Florida by 13 strokes. Second-place Georgia State is just two back of the Gators.

Along with Davies, who has scored 70 or lower in seven of 10 rounds this fall, the Bucs got solid efforts from sophomores Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) and Cian McNamara (Limerick, Ireland). Currently, Shaw is tied for 19^th after posting a 1-over-par 73, while McNamara is tied for 38^th with a 75. Freshmen Jordan Findlay (Fraserburgh, Scotland) and Adam Hodkinson (Dore, England) are tied for 57^th and 75^th, respectively.

Play in the Carpet Capital Collegiate will continue with second round action set for Saturday, and final round play scheduled for Sunday. Visit ETSUBucs.com for a complete wrap up following each day's action, or click on GolfStat.com for results immediately following play.