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May 17, 2003

South Carolina Advances to the NCAA Championships

Columbia, S.C. – The University of South Carolina men’s golf team advances to its 12th NCAA Championship after shooting a three-round score of 873 to tie for seventh at the NCAA East Regional in Auburn, Ala. The top ten teams of each regional (east, central, west) advance to the NCAA Championships which will be held on May 28-31 in Stillwater, Okla.

Clemson won the team title with a three-round total of 839. The Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech were second with 849, followed by Southeastern Conference foe, Florida, who finished with 859.

Playing in his first NCAA tournament, freshman Eirik Johansen led the Gamecocks with a three-day total of 214. Earlier this month, Johansen was named to the First Team All-SEC squad for his success throughout the season. Johansen finished the regional with an 18th place finish. One stroke back of Johansen was teammate Martin Rominger. The Switzerland native shot one-under-par 215 to place 25th.

The second freshman on the five-man squad was West Streib. Streib fired two-under-par 70 in the final round of competition to end the tournament in a tie for 47th place with a total of 221. Alex Hamilton placed 58th with a score of 223, while Nash Elliott shot 237.

“I am really proud of our guys,” stated Head Coach Puggy Blackmon. “They have worked very hard and continued to improve throughout the season. It is a major accomplishment to go from finishing 26th at last year’s NCAA Regional, to placing seventh this year. This (NCAA Championship) will be icing on the cake.”

The last time the Gamecocks advanced to the NCAA Championships was in 2001 at the Duke University Club in Durham, N.C. Out of the 30-team field, the Gamecocks placed 20th. The best finish for South Carolina was a tie for eighth in 1988.

Gamecock FinishesEirik Johansen            74 -70-70=214Martin Rominger          69 -71-75=215West Streib              77-74-70=221Alex Hamilton              76-70-77=223Nash Elliott             84-76-77= 237

Teams That Advanced to the NCAA Championships1 Clemson 285-277-277= 8392 Georgia Tech 281-286-281=8483 Florida 290-288-281=8594 Tennessee 281-291-291=8635 Duke 286-292-288=8666 Wake Forest 290-288-290=868T7 Augusta State 290-290-293=873T7 South Carolina 296-285-592=873T9 Vanderbilt 293-289-293=87510 Auburn 292-290-295=877