May 19, 2005

STANFORD, Calif. – Junior Eirik Johansen (Stavanger, Norway) fired an even par 70 to lead the University of South Carolina men’s golf team on Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA West Regional, played at Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif. Johansen is tied for 12th, while as a team, South Carolina sits in a tie for 10th place after shooting 289 (+9).

The Gamecocks entered the 27-team field as the No. 8 seed. At the conclusion of Saturday’s final round, the low 10 teams and low two individuals will advance to compete at the 2005 NCAA Championship, June 1-4, at Caves Valley Golf Course near Baltimore.

Brigham Young, the No. 7 seed, leads the field after firing a 278 (-2). Pepperdine (279, -1) is one stroke back in second place. BYU’s Oscar Alvarez shot a 63 (-7) and sits atop the individual leaderboard with a three-stroke lead on the field. The Gamecocks are tied with tournament-host Stanford in 10th-place.

On the strength of a trio of birdies on the back nine, Johansen matched his best round of the season with Thursday’s 70. SEC Freshman of the Year Mark Anderson (Beaufort, S.C.) was next with a 72 (+2), putting him tied for 34th.

Redshirt junior West Streib (Atlanta, Ga.) shot a 73 (+3) to tie for 52nd and senior Alex Hamilton (Aiken, S.C.) was one stroke back of Streib after carding an opening-round 74 (+4), good for a tie for 70th.

Junior Robert Svensson (Mjolby, Sweden) suffered through three straight bogeys on the back nine and finished with an 80 (+10) to round out the Gamecock effort.

Carolina led the SEC contingent at the West Regional. No. 3-seed Auburn is currently tied for 12th, while No. 11-seed Louisiana State sits tied for 15th.

Action continues with 18 holes on Friday. South Carolina will tee off at 10:57 a.m. (ET).

SOUTH CAROLINA INDIVIDUALST12 Eirik Johansen, 70 (E)T34 Mark Anderson, 73 (+2)T52 West Streib, 73 (+3)T70 Alex Hamilton, 74 (+4)T128 Robert Svensson, 80 (+10)
TEAM LEADERBOARD1   Brigham Young       -2   2782   Pepperdine      -1   2793   UNLV            +1  2814   Arizona             +3  2835   New Mexico      +4  284T6  San Diego State         +6  286T6  Southern California     +6  286T6  Washington      +6  2869   UCLA            +8  288T10     Stanford            +9  289T10  South Carolina      +9  289T12     Auburn          +10     290T12     Arizona State       +10     29014  Oregon          +12     292T15     Louisiana State         +14     294T15     Denver          +14     294T17     Fresno State        +15     295T17     St. Mary's-Calif.       +15     295T17     UC Riverside        +15     295T17     South Alabama       +15     295T21     Texas-Arlington         +17     297T21     Cal Poly - SLO      +17     29723  Central Conn. St.       +22     302T24     Colorado State      +23     303T24     Illinois State      +23     30326  Princeton           +26     30627  Samford             +32     312