JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (Oct. 8, 2007) - Throughout the past decade, local golf fans have had the opportunity to watch the nation's best collegiate players at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate at The Ridges. In its 10^th year, the event will once again offer the highest level of play at the college level.

With a resume of former competitors that includes PGA and European Tour winners such as Matt Kuchar (Georgia Tech), Lucas Glover (Clemson), David Gossett (Texas), Luke Donald (Northwestern), Jonathan Byrd (Clemson), D.J. Trahan (Clemson), Carl Pettersson (N.C. State) and Graeme McDowell (UAB), the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate at the Ridges has certainly built a tradition of excellence. This year, 15 of the nation's top teams will descend on The Ridges for the three-day, three-round event Oct. 12-14, with a practice round scheduled for Oct. 11.

"There's no doubt this tournament has become one of the top events in college golf," said ETSU head coach Fred Warren, who watched former ETSU standout Rhys Davies capture back-to-back individual titles in 2005 and 2006. "This year we have another strong field. Winning this tournament is always considered a big step to having a great season."

In a change from past seasons when the tournament was played with two rounds on Saturday and one on Sunday, this year the event will cover three days with individual rounds Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The 15-team field will include eight teams that competed in the 2007 NCAA Championships (ETSU, Wake Forest, UNC, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Tennessee, Auburn and Coastal Carolina), as well as three teams that won conference championships a year ago (Virginia Tech, ETSU and Coastal Carolina).

Individually, players to watch include ETSU senior Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland), who was an honorable mention All-American in 2007 and a preseason All-America pick for 2007-08, along with Virginia Tech's Drew Weaver, who became the first American to win the British Amateur Championship in 30 years this past summer. Others of note include George Bryan IV of South Carolina and freshman Rhys Enoch of ETSU. Currently, Bryan is the nation's No. 4-ranked player, Enoch is ranked No. 9, and Shaw is ranked 17th.

Live scoring for the event will be available at Golfstat.com or by visiting ETSUBucs.com and clicking on the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate at The Ridges Logo.

Please find attached historical information on the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate at The Ridges, including a short biography of the event's first nine years and leaderboards, as well as team and individual records.

For more information on the tournament itself, please contact Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Michael White at 423.439.4220 or [email protected].