Tuesday, May 27, 2008

            WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (May 27, 2008) — Making a program record 20th trip to the NCAAs, the 16th-ranked ETSU men's golf team hopes its third straight trip to the championships yield a chance to play during the weekend and contend for the national title.

            The Buccaneers will open play in the NCAA Championships Wednesday afternoon at the Brick Boilermaker Golf Complex's Kampen Course. The Bucs, who earned their spot in the championships with an eighth place finish in the NCAA East Regional earlier this month, are scheduled to tee off beginning at 1:47 and will be playing alongside Texas A&M and Indiana.

            ETSU seniors Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) and Cian McNamara (Limerick, Ireland) have the experience of playing in the past three NCAAs, and both players are coming off impressive efforts during the third and final round at the NCAA East Regionals. McNamara finished that round with a team-best 4-under 67, while Shaw -- a preseason All-American who won the Atlantic Sun Conference individual title and is currently the nation's 12th-ranked player -- ended the day with a 69 and finished tied for eighth on the leaderboard. Meanwhile, sophomore Seamus Power (Waterford, Ireland) makes a return trip to the championships, while freshmen Rhys Enoch (Cornwall, England) and Simon Doherty (Belfast, Northern Ireland) round out the Bucs' all-European squad.

            The Bucs will be looking to match or improve on their previous team-best showing of third place in the NCAAs, which came in 1996. Other quality efforts by the Bucs in the nationals include finishes of sixth (1975), seventh (1976), ninth (2001) and 12^th (1989, 1994 and 1997).

            Fans wishing to keep up with the Bucs live can do so by visiting Golfstat.com and clicking on the live stats link. In addition, ETSUBucs.com will have a complete wrap up of the day following each round.