Davies, McNamara hold three stroke advantage on individual leaderboard

For Immediate Release

Contact: Michael White (423) 439-4220

RIO GRANDE, P.R. (Feb. 25, 2007) - Right at home in the Caribbean, the ETSU Buccaneers fired a shot across the bow of the nation's top collegiate golf teams, posting the second best single round team score in school history with a 15-under-par 273 in the first round of the Westin Rio Mar Puerto Rico Collegiate Classic, and taking a six-stroke lead over 5^th-ranked Georgia following first round play Sunday at the Rio Mar Country Club.

With five of the nation's top six teams in the 18-team field, the 14^th-ranked Bucs were powered by several sterling individual performances, led by a pair of tournament leading 65s from senior Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) and junior Cian McNamara (Limerick, Ireland). With seven birdies and no bogeys, McNamara posted his lowest competitive round ever, while Davies actually stood at 9-under with three holes to play before suffering a double bogey to finish at 7-under.

Davies - who is ranked sixth in the most recent Golfweek/Sagarin individual standings - and McNamara currently hold a three-stroke advantage over Oklahoma State's Jonathan Moore, Georgia Tech's Roberto Castro, Stanford's Matthew Savage and Georgia's Brendon Todd. Moore is the reigning NCAA champion.

"Rhys and Cian both played very well," said ETSU head coach Fred Warren. "The course was very difficult in spots, but our guys really played smart. This is obviously a very strong field and some of college golf's best players are here, but we're off to a great start. There are still two rounds left, but we're very pleased with where we stand right now."

While they are up six strokes on Georgia, the Bucs also lead No. 2 Stanford by eight strokes, No. 4 Oklahoma State by nine, and No. 12 Clemson by 10. Other highly ranked teams in the field include No. 6 Alabama at 284 and No. 1 Florida at 294.

Along with Davies and McNamara, the Bucs got great efforts from sophomore Jordan Findlay (Fraserburgh, Scotland) and freshman Seamus Power (Waterford, Ireland). Findlay finished the day tied for 24^th at 1-under 71, while Power is tied for 38^th at even par 72.

The Bucs hope to continue their strong play during second round action on Monday. Fans can watch live scoring by clicking on the link provided above, or they can get a complete wrap up of the day's action by visiting ETSUBucs.com at the conclusion of second round play.