BRASELTON, Ga. (April 22, 2008) - Entering Tuesday's second round in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships at Chateau Elan's Woodlands Course, members of the ETSU men's golf team said patience was the key to climbing to the top of the leaderboard after finishing the first round in second place . That virtue certainly paid dividends for the Buccaneers Wednesday.

            Making up an eight-stroke deficit with a second round team score of 3-over-par 287, the 20^th-ranked Bucs outsed first-round leader Gardner-Webb from the top spot and currently lead 47^th-ranked North Florida by one stroke and first-round leader Gardner-Webb by two heading into the final round.

            On the individual leaderboard, three ETSU players posted sub-par scores on the day, with senior Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) ending the day four strokes better than Kennesaw State's Oliver West for the individual lead. Shaw posted a day-best, 5-under-par 67 and stands at 6-under for the tournament, while freshman teammate Rhys Enoch (Cornwall, England) was the other ETSU player to go below 70 for the day with a 3-under 69. Enoch is just five strokes back of Shaw in third place.

            "Gareth, Cian and Rhys were all solid for us," said ETSU head coach Fred Warren, whose team is looking for its second straight A-Sun title and a school record 22^nd league championship overall. "This is the kind of course that's short and offers a lot of temptations, but there's also a lot of trouble out there. You have to be patient and commit to a shot, and I think we did a better job of that today. It's really tight among three or four teams right now, so we need everyone on our team to come out tomorrow and play well."

            Shaw reiterated Warren's thoughts.

            "We did play a little smarter today and took advantage," said Shaw, who hopes the Bucs can pick up their third conference title in his four years at ETSU. "If we can get one or two scores in the 60s tomorrow and everyone play a solid round we should be OK. Being the favorite adds a little pressure, but we've fought to stay in contention and we want to respond tomorrow."

            Third round action will continue on Wednesday morning. Fans can watch live scoring of the even on the web at Golfstat.com, or get a complete wrap up of the day's play at ETSUBucs.com.