Tuesday, February 27, 2007

                RIO GRANDE, P.R. (Feb. 27, 2007) - Firing an even-par 72 on the final day of the Westin Rio Mar Puerto Rico Collegiate Classic, ETSU senior and the nation's seventh-ranked player Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) finished the event tied for third at 6-under for the tournament, helping lead the ETSU men's golf team to a highly respectable fifth-place finish in a competitive field Tuesday at the Rio Mar Country Club.

            Davies, who actually led the event after the first day thanks to a first round 65, finished tied with 2006 NCAA Champion Jonathan Moore of Oklahoma State, and was one stroke off the pace of Georgia Tech's Roberto Castro and Stanford's Joseph Bramlett. As a team, the 14^th-ranked Bucs ended the event at 8-under-par, six strokes behind team champion and fifth-ranked Georgia.

            "With a few holes left we were actually second and if we had finished well we had a chance to win," said ETSU head coach Fred Warren, whose team finished ahead of highly ranked teams such as No. 4 Oklahoma State and No. 1 Florida. "But finishing fifth is very respectable in that field and it was a good experience for our guys to play under that kind of pressure. I think Rhys was disappointed losing by a shot because he had a good shot at winning as well. All in all, though, there were a lot of positives."

            Along with Davies, the Bucs got a quality finish from junior Cian McNamara (Limerick, Ireland), who ended the event tied for 17^th at 1-under 215. It is the second time in his career that McNamara has finished well at the Puerto Rico event, when he posted a tie for 12^th at 213 as a freshman back in 2005.

            Other ETSU results of note included a tie for 24^th by freshman Seamus Power (Waterford, Ireland) at 1-over for the event, while sophomore Jordan Findlay ended the tournament tied for 36^th at 4-over and junior Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) placed tied for 39^th at 5-over.

            The Bucs will return to action on Sunday at the Seminole Intercollegiate hosted by Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla. Fans can stay informed on all that is happening with the ETSU men's golf team by checking out ETSUBucs.com and clicking on the men's golf link.