Monday, April 02, 2007

        BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (April 2, 2007) - ETSU senior Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) has been selected as the Southern Golf Association's National Amateur of the Month for March, kicking off the fourth year for the March-through-October award. Davies was a near-unanimous pick by the selection panel after scoring back-to-back individual titles during the month.

Davies won the Seminole Invitational at Tallahassee, Fla., with a 6-under-par 210 total, two shots ahead of the field. The two-time, first-team All-American followed that the next week by winning the Gen. Jim Hackler Championship at the TPC of Myrtle Beach (S.C.) against a strong field with a 10-under-par 206 total. His second round 65 set the competitive course record at the TPC of Myrtle Beach.

The pair of victories extended Davies' school record for individual tournament titles to 10 and vaulted him to No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin amateur rankings.

The monthly SGA award is selected from among amateur performances throughout the U.S. in all age groups by a national blue-ribbon panel of 15 golf officials, coaches and journalists. The 104-year-old Southern Golf Association promotes amateur golf in a variety of ways, including the staging of the prestigious Southern Amateur Championship, which will be contested in July for the 101st time at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst.