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April 14, 2005

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The University of South Carolina men’s golf team will compete for the 2005 Southeastern Concerence Championship in St. Simons Island, Ga. April 15-17. Teams will play at Sea Island Golf Club on the Seaside Course (Par 70- 6,885 yards).

The SEC Field
As of April 10, 10 of the 12 Southeastern Conference teams were ranked in Golfweek’s top 50 in the nation. Georgia leads all teams at second in the nation, with Florida and Auburn also in the top 10 at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively. Tennessee is currently No. 16 and Kentucky comes in at No. 18 while South Carolina holds down the No. 20 spot. The rest of the top-50 teams include No. 23 Alabama, No. 35 LSU, No. 45 Arkansas and No. 50 Ole Miss. Vanderbilt and Mississippi State appear in Golfweek’s top 100 at No. 53 and No. 86, respectively.

Carolina Lineup
Freshmen Mark Anderson and Warren Thomas, juniors Eirik Johansen and West Streib and senior Alex Hamilton will compete for South Carolina at the SEC Championship. This marks the third time this season head coach Puggy Blackmon has used this particular lineup. Johansen has played in every round for USC in 2004-05.

Gamecocks in the Rankings
In the latest Golfweek Collegiate Top 50 rankings release on April 10, South Carolina moved up one spot to No. 21 in the team poll. Gamecock freshman Mark Anderson sits at No. 19 in the Individual rankings. Junior Eirik Johansen squeezes in the top 100, at No. 97.

How to Get Results
Live tournament results can be found online at www.golfstatresults.com. At the conclusion of each day, a recap and current standings can be found on South Carolina’s athletics Web site, www.uscsports.com. The recap will be sent to the media.

Spring 2005 Record Against SEC Opponents
South Carolina is 11-14-1 against SEC opponents during the Spring 2005 season. No. 2 Georgia is the only school that they did not beat at least once, going 4-0 against the Gamecocks. South Carolina pulled out one win each over Florida and Auburn, but endured three losses to the Gators and two to the Tigers.

After tying at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate, they split with Tennessee in two other tournaments. The Gamecocks have winning records against both Kentucky and LSU, going 2-1 and 3-1, respectively. They also are a perfect 1-0 against both Arkansas and Vanderbilt. The SEC Championship is the first time South Carolina will compete in a field that includes its SEC foes from Mississippi State and Ole Miss. South

Carolina at the 2004 SEC Championship
At last year’s SEC Championship, played in St. Simon’s Island, Ga. at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course, South Carolina placed seventh out of 12 teams with a total score 29-over par 869.

Alex Hamilton was the highest finisher for the Gamecocks in a tie for fifth place with an 1-over par 211. Former South Carolina golfer Martin Rominger carded a score of 219 (+9) to place in a tie for 25th and Jake Thompson shot a score of 223 (+13) to finish in a tie for 39th. Eirik Johansen and teammate West Streib rounded out play for the Gamecocks in ties for 42nd with scores of 224 (+14). South

Carolina’s SEC Champions
At the 1998 SEC Championship in Athens, Ga., then-sophomore Eric Ecker earned medalist honors for the Gamecocks with an 8-under par score of 136 when play was suspended after 36 holes due to inclement weather. Ecker is the only golfer from South Carolina to win an SEC Championship.

Gamecock Bios
Mark Anderson (Fr., Beaufort, S.C.) In only his fourth collegiate tournament, Anderson tied for first place at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship March 11-13 after falling in a one-hole playoff. Just one week later, he won his first outright title at the Schenkel EZ-Go Invitational in Statesboro, Ga. He leads the Gamecocks with four top-10 and five top-20 finishes and is tied for the lowest team-round score with a 66. Anderson’s stroke average of 73.00 is the lowest on the team by more than one and a half strokes.

Alex Hamilton (Sr., Aiken, S.C.)
In his last season as a Gamecock golfer, Hamilton has two top-10 and three top-20 finishes and is third on the team with a stroke average of 75.00. He is tied with Anderson for the lowest team-round score with a 66. He was the highest South Carolina finisher in four of the eight tournaments in which he has competed, with his highest finish coming in third place at the Gary Koch/ Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate Oct. 11-12.

Eirik Johansen (Jr., Stavanger, Norway)
Johansen is the only Gamecock golfer to compete in all nine of this season’s tournaments. He fell just short of an individual title with a second-place finish at the SunTrust Gator Invitational Feb. 4-6. He shot a personal season-best score of 70 three times this year: twice at the Gator Invitational and once at the Gary Koch/ Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate. He has a scoring average of 74.49 to go along with one top-10 and two top-20 finishes this season.

West Streib (RS-Jr., Atlanta, Ga.)
Streib has competed in six tournaments this season, with his highest finish in 20th place at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate March 28-29. He is fifth on the team with a scoring average of 76.06 and his lowest round is a 71.

Warren Thomas (Fr., Columbia, S.C.)
Thomas has competed in five tournaments, shooting a total score of 222 in the Gary Koch/Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate Oct. 11-12 to place in a tie for 19th, his highest finish of the season. He is seventh on the team in stroke average with a 76.40 and his lowest round of the season is a 72.