Three-day tournament begins Friday morning at the Blackthorn Club

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (Oct. 9, 2014) – The 31st-ranked ETSU men’s golf team hosts the 17th annual Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate, which begins Friday morning at the Blackthorn Club in Jonesborough.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BUCS

Junior Adrian Meronk (Wroclaw, Poland) won his second tournament of the fall, while the Bucs placed second at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate, which ended Tuesday afternoon at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course.

Meronk, who held a one-shot lead heading into the final hole, carded a bogey and tied with NC State’s David Poole at 5-under-par 208. The Buccaneer junior led all players in par-4 scoring (3.85) and recorded 12 birdies for the tournament. Meronk, the 25th-ranked golfer in the Golfweek rankings, also won the Inverness Intercollegiate on Sept. 23.

As a team, the Blue and Gold earned runner-up honors as ETSU finished nine-shots back of tournament host NC State. The Bucs finished the 54-hole tournament at 3-over-par 855.

Junior Chris Hickman (Centreville, Md.) tied for third and was one shot back of the leaders as he finished at 4-under-par 209. Hickman registered his lowest collegiate score in Tuesday’s final round as the Centreville, Md. native fired a 4-under-par 67. Hickman played the final six holes at 5-under and collected his first collegiate eagle after he holed a 101-yard shot on the par-4 16th.

ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT

The three-day tournament gets underway Friday morning at 8 a.m., while Saturday’s second round will also start at 8 a.m., with each team beginning on No. 1. Sunday’s tee times and pairings will be released at the conclusion of Saturday’s round.

Virginia returns to defend its title as the 21st-ranked Cavaliers posted the second-lowest team score a year ago at 22-under-par 842. The Cavaliers’ second-round score of 16-under-par 272 was the lowest single-round total put up in tournament history.

Scott Vincent of Virginia Tech won the individual title and tied a tournament record with a 54-hole score of 13-under-par 203. Vincent, a senior at Virginia Tech, returns to defend his individual title this season.

ETSU’s Rhys Davies earned medalist honors twice at the Bank of Tennessee as the former Buccaneer All-American repeated as individual champion in 2005 and 2006.

The Bucs finished second in both 2006 and 2008, marking their best team placing in tournament history. In 2008, ETSU lost by one stroke to Coastal Carolina, while falling by one stroke to Tennessee in 2006.

Seven former Bank of Tennessee team champions are included in the 2014 field – Virginia, Virginia Tech, Missouri, Kent State, Tennessee, Coastal Carolina, and Wake Forest.

Since its first year of competition in 1998, the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate has featured players who have gone on to enjoy successful careers on the PGA and European PGA Tours. This list of names includes Matt Kuchar, Luke Donald, Lucas Glover, Bill Haas, Webb Simpson and ETSU’s own Rhys Davies, to name a few.

TOURNAMENT FILED

The 2014 Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate features five teams ranked in the top-35 in the Golfweek rankings. In addition, six are ranked in the top-50, while nine teams are ranked in the top-80.

Joining the Bucs (No. 31) in the field are Wake Forest (No. 12), Virginia (No. 21), Virginia Tech (No. 26), NC State (No. 35), Penn State (No. 45), Kent State (No. 60), Tennessee (No. 71), Army (No. 80), Villanova, Coastal Carolina, Furman, Memphis, Missouri, and UNC Wilmington.

ETSU’S LINEUP

Joining Meronk and Hickman in ETSU’s lineup are senior Rhys Pugh (Pontypridd, Wales), junior Gudmundur Kristjansson (Reykjavik, Iceland) and sophomore Mateusz Gradecki (Oborniki Śląskie, Poland).

Senior Tom Heggarty (Cheshire, England), who made his season debut this week at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate, and freshman Cayman Ratliff (Kingsport, Tenn.) will play as individuals.

The Bucs are paired with Wake Forest and Virginia and tee off at 9:40 a.m. on Friday. Tom Heggarty will tee off at 12:10 p.m. and Cayman Ratliff goes out at 12:20 p.m.

COVERAGE

Live scoring for this weekend’s tournament will be via Golfstat.

Recaps following each day will be available on ETSUBucs.com.

Twitter updates can be accessed by following @ETSUAthletics.

TEXTCASTER

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