Tuesday, February 25, 2003

PALMER, Puerto Rico (Feb. 25, 2003) - Shooting a 295 for their best single-round team score of the week, the East Tennessee State men's golf team placed ninth following final round play of the Puerto Rico Classic Tuesday at the Rio Mar Country Club in Palmer, P.R.

Bolstered by a 2-under-par 70 in the final round - the best individual round score for a Buccaneer player in the event -- sophomore Chase Baldwin (Plant City, Fla.) finished tied for 24th with scores of 76-76-70=212. Baldwin was joined by ETSU senior James Johnson(Barbados), who also finished the event tied for 24th (76-73-73=212).

While Oklahoma State pulled away for a 10-stroke victory over Minnesota in the team standings, the Bucs finished ahead of national golf powers like No. 15 Georgia, No. 12 Duke and No. 14 Purdue, and they tied with No. 13 Northwestern. ETSU finished with a final team score of 32-over-par, 300-301-295=896.

Along with Baldwin and Johnson, sophomore Cennydd Mills (Cardiff, Wales) finished 50th (76-76-75=227), true freshman Derek McNamara (Galway, Ireland) placed 56th (72-81-77=230), and sophomore Jeremy Hobson (Thonotosassa, Fla.) finished the event in 65th (79-76-78=233).

N.C. State's Justin Walters and Texas' Jason Hartwick tied for first place in the event after carding three-round scores of 5-under-par 211, followed by a batch of five players that finished third. That group included Oklahoma State's Hunter Mahan, Georgia Tech Troy Matteson, Clemson's Gregg Jones, N.C. State's Fernando Mechereffe and Oklahoma State's Zack Robinson.

ETSU will be in action again March 10-11 at the Seminole Intercollegiate in Tallahassee, Fla.