Thursday, June 14, 2007

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (June 14, 2007) - Former ETSU men's golfing standout Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) did more than just survive during Thursday's first round of play in the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club just outside of Pittsburgh, he put himself in position to possibly make the cut in the major championship with a solid second round Friday.

Finishing his front nine at even-par and standing at 1-over for the day with three holes to play, Davies struggled with a double bogey, bogey and par to finish out his round Thursday. However, his efforts were still good enough for a 4-over score of 74 and a spot at 57th on the leaderboard.

In fact, Davies - who finished tied with John Kelly for the best round by an amateur on Thursday - was turning several heads when he was 1-under after seven holes, birding the challenging 231-yard, Par 3 16^tt hole and earning praise from ESPN.com's bloggers who wrote:

8:47 a.m.: Spy report:

And yet, there goes 22-year-old amateur Rhys Davies, from Wales via East Tennessee State University, draining a 40-footer for a 2 on the scorecard. Watch out for this kid this week. My friend Ryan Herrington, Golf World's college and amateur golf guru, raves about him and he's been drawing the attention of many pros on the range, too.

Davies will begin play Friday at 12:30 p.m. as part of the afternoon pairings. Fans can watch television coverage live on ESPN and NBC, while keeping up with live scoring and updates at www.usopen.com.