Wednesday, September 03, 2008

            JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Sept. 3, 2008) - Having been ranked highly already by the Golf Coaches Association of America's Golf World/Nike listing earlier this week, the ETSU men's golf team has now been given a No. 14 national rank in the Golfweek/Sagarin Preseason Rankings.

            The Buccaneers, who finished No. 23 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings last year, open their 2008-09 season Sept. 12 at the Carpet Capital Collegiate in Dalton, Ga. The team, which was ranked 18^th by the GCAA earlier this week, is coming off its school record 20^th trip to the NCAA Championships.

            Georgia tops the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, followed by Oklahoma State, 2008 NCAA Champion UCLA, USC and Stanford. Tennessee is ranked 22^nd.

            ETSU will return five players from its roster of a year ago, including players such as Seamus Power (Waterford, Ireland) and Rhys Enoch (Cornwall, England), who both were major contributors to the Bucs a year ago. Newcomers such as Scottish Boys Champion Michael Stewart (Troon, Scotland) and U.S. Amateur qualifier Devin Komline (Dorset, Vermont) are also expected to compete for positions on the top five this fall.

            For more on ETSU men's golf throughout the fall and spring semesters, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men's golf link.

PRESEASON TOP 30
(With final 2007-08 Golfweek rank):