Wednesday, May 13, 2009

                BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (May 13, 2009) - The ETSU men's golf team will open play Thursday in the NCAA Central Regional, as first round pairings were released Wednesday afternoon. The Buccaneers' Seamus Power (Waterford, Ireland) will be the first ETSU player on the course, teeing off at 8:50 a.m.

            The Bucs are seeded sixth seed in the regional, which will be played Thursday through Saturday at The Club at Olde Stone in
Alvaton, Ky. ETSU will need to finish in the Top 5 of the 14-team field to earn the program's 18^th trip to the NCAA Championships.

            ETSU will face a field that includes No. 1-seeded Washington, which has won two straight events by a combined 33 shots and is considered a favorite even for the national championship. Meanwhile, a quartet of possible player of the year candidates will be in the field, including Georgia Tech's Cameron Tringale, N.C. State's Matt Hill, Washington's Nick Taylor and Marquette's Mike Van Sickle.

            Live scoring from the regionals will be available on Golfstat.com, and full recaps of the day's play will be accessible each evening at ETSUBucs.com. For a full listing of the Central Regional field, please see below:

CENTRAL REGIONAL

TEAMS
1. (4) Washington - Pac-10 champion
2. (7) Georgia Tech - ACC champion
3. (23) N.C. State
4. (18) UCLA
5. (27) Mississippi
6. (40) East Tennessee State
7. (44) Duke
8. (43) Louisville - Big East champion
9. (50) Ohio State
10. (45) Vanderbilt
11. (70) Middle Tennessee State - Sun Belt champion
12. (101) Austin Peay State - Ohio Valley champion
13. (179) Cleveland State - Horizon League champion
14. (253) Bucknell - Patriot League champion

INDIVIDUALS
1. (10) Mike Van Sickle, Marquette
2. (115) Sebastian MacLean, Xavier
3. (228) Trey Bowling, Eastern Kentucky
4. (271) Tyler Duncan, Purdue
5. (NR) John Montgomery, Alabama State