EL PASO, Texas (Nov. 21, 2006) - ETSU senior and two-time All-American Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) finished with three consecutive rounds in the 60s to place tied for fourth at 8-under par Tuesday in the  32^nd Western Refining College All-American Golf Classic. Davies, who posted scores of 68-69-68=205 in the two-day event, finished fourth in the same tournament last season, which is played at the Par-71, 6,837-yard El Paso Country Club.

            Facing what is historically the toughest collegiate field in the country, Georgia's Chris Kirk tied the tournament record thanks to a blistering three-round effort. Kirk finished with rounds of 65-66-64 to end the event at 18-under-par 195. Kirk bested Florida's Billy Horschel by five strokes and Vanderbilt's Luke List - the reigning champion of the event - by seven strokes to take the title.

            This year's tournament featured eight Golfweek preseason first team All-Americans -Davies, Billy Horschel (Florida), Dustin Johnson (Coastal Carolina), Pablo Martin (Oklahoma State), Jonathan Moore (Oklahoma State), Cameron Tringale (Georgia Tech) and Dawie Van der Walt (Lamar). In all, 18 players in the field earned preseason All-America honors.

This year's field also included three members of the 2006 U.S. Palmer Cup team - Chris Kirk (Georgia), Kevin Larsen (Georgia Tech) and Luke List (Vanderbilt). Three members of 2006 European Palmer Cup squad are also in field - Davies, Martin and Mark Haastrup (Georgia State).

Also in the field this year was returning champion Luke List, who made his third appearance in El Paso. Both medalists from last season's NCAA Division I and Division II Championships also competed in this year's event. Oklahoma State's Moore took top honors at the Division I Championships and paced Oklahoma State to their 10th NCAA title. Jamie Amoretti of St. Mary's University won the Division II title, as the Rattlers finished ninth.

Last season, the Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic ranked as the No. 1 tournament in the country for the second consecutive season, according to the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.