Thursday, June 01, 2006

            SUNRIVER, Ore. (June 1, 2006) - Battling through tough weather conditions during Thursday's second round in the NCAA Championships, the ETSU men's golf team struggled to a score of 13-over 301 and dropped from 10^th to a tie for 18th place at the Crosswater Club at Sunriver Resort. The Bucs will enter Friday's third round needing to make up at least four strokes to catch one of the current Top 15 and make the cut for Saturday's fourth and final round.

            For the Bucs, sophomore Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) led the way with a second round score of 1-under 71 and is currently tied for 23rd on the leaderboard at 1-under for the event. Kyle Reifers of Wake Forest currently leads the event at 9-under, three strokes better than four players tied in second place. On the team leaderboard, Washington is 13-under and holds a three-stroke edge over Arizona State and Wake Forest.

            "We were OK on the front, but we made the turn and played poorly on the back side," said ETSU head coach Fred Warren, whose team posted its first over-par score in eight postseason rounds this spring. "We're now in a tough position to make the cut, and we're going to have to play well to have a chance. Our guys will try their best to extend our season, but it will be hard because there are a lot of good teams here, obviously."

            Along with Shaw, sophomore Cian McNamara (Limerick, Ireland) currently holds the team's second-best tournament score at 2-over, despite following up his season low 68 from Wednesday with a 6-over 78 on Thursday. Meanwhile, junior Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) is at 3-over for the tournament with rounds of 74 and 73 to his credit. McNamara is currently tied for 63rd and Davies is tied for 80th.

            Freshmen Adam Hodkinson (Dore, England) and Jordan Findlay (Fraserburgh, Scotland) have struggled through much of the event. Currently, Hodkinson is at 7-over and Findlay is at 15-over for the championship.

            Third round action is set for Friday, with the Top 15 teams making the cut and reaching the final round scheduled for Saturday. Fans can watch live scoring at Golfstat.com, or visit ETSUBucs.com following each day's play for a complete wrap up.