April 12, 2007

ROBERT KEPLER INTERCOLLEGIATE
Apirl 14-15, 2007 • Columbus, Ohio
Ohio State University Golf Club, The Scarlet Course
Par 71 – 7,454 Yards

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GAMECOCKS HEAD NORTH FOR ROBERT KEPLER INTERCOLLEGIATE
The South Carolina men’s golf team travels to Columbus, Ohio, to take part in the 37th Robert Kepler Intercollegiate, April 14-15. The 54-hole event will be played at the Ohio State University Golf Club’s Scarlet Course (Par 71, 7,454 yards). After a practice round on Friday, the opening 36 holes are scheduled for Saturday. A shot gun start begins at 8:30 a.m. The final 18 will be played on Sunday. Live scoring can be found online at www.golfstat.com or by following the links from the South Carolina’s official athletics web site, USCsports.com.

GAMECOCK LINEUP
South Carolina’s five-man lineup will feature freshman George Bryan IV, sophomore Florian Fritsch, junior Warren Thomas, sophomore Allen Koon, and junior Mark Anderson. Redshirt sophomore Patrick Cunning will compete as an individual.

NOTING THE SOUTH CAROLINA LINEUP
>> Two-time SEC Golfer of the Week George Bryan IV is the only Gamecock to compete in all eight varsity events this season. The freshman owns a 73.16 stroke average and a pair of top-five finishes. Most recently, he tied for second at the Augusta State Invitational with a three-day score of 210. Bryan is ranked No. 89 this week by Golfweek.

>> Sophomore Florian Fritsch, who earned all-SEC honors in 2006, has a 74.08 stroke average and is in the lineup for the fifth time this season. After posting four top-20 finishes as a freshman, Fritsch claimed a tie for 12th at the Augusta State Invitational last week with his best three-round total of the season (215).

>> Junior Warren Thomas is back in the lineup for the seventh time. Thomas’ stroke average is 74.61 and his best showing of the season was a tie for 29th at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational in October. Thomas recorded his best three-round total (218) at Augusta State.

>> Sophomore Allen Koon sports a 74.56 stroke average, the third-best among golfers who have competed in more than one varsity event. Koon’s career best finish came ago at the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational when his placed in a tie for 19th.

>> Junior Mark Anderson, a 2005 All-American, returns to the lineup for the sixth time this season. Anderson has a 75.07 stroke average and his best showing of the season is a tie for 35th at the Isleworth-UCF Invitational in the fall.

>> Redshirt sophomore Patrick Cunning will also compete for the third time this season. Cunning led the Gamecocks by tying for 25th in the final fall event, the CordeValle Collegiate. He has a 72.67 stroke average through six rounds. Cunning tied for 49th at Augusta State.

THE KEPLER FIELD
The Robert Kepler Intercollegiate features a field heavy with Big Ten Conference schools. In addition to host Ohio State, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Penn State, Northwestern and Wisconsin are set to compete. Notre Dame, Ohio, SMU, Louisville and South Carolina round out the 16-team field. Eleven individual golfers from those teams are ranked in the current Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (April 9) top 100. This will be the first time the Gamecocks have seen the majority of the teams this season.

BRYAN EARNS BACK-TO-BACK SEC GOLFER OF THE WEEK HONORS
George Bryan IV (Chapin, S.C.) earned the Southeastern Conference Male Golfer of the Week in consecutive weeks on March 28 and April 4. Bryan was honored March 28 after tying for 11th at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate in Awendaw, S.C. In South Carolina’s next event, the Augusta State Invitaitonal, he collected his second top-five finish of the season and set a new course record in the process on his way to winning the award again. Bryan tied for second individually, a career best, to lead the Gamecocks to a fourth-place showing at the Administaff Augusta State Invitational. In the first round, he carded a six-under par 66, to set a new Champions Retreat course record. He followed up with a pair rounds at even par (72) to bring his three-day total to 210 (-6). That effort puts him in the South Carolina record book, tying for the 10th-best individual score in a three-round tournament. His opening round 66 matched the fourth-lowest round in school history, shared by 13 USC golfers. The score was a career low for Bryan and led to his third top-20 of the season. Bryan is the second South Carolina golfer to win the SEC’s weekly award two times in one season. Current junior Mark Anderson earned the award in back-to-back weeks during his freshman season in 2005.

COACH’S QUOTE
Associate head coach Bill McDonald: “We are looking forward to playing the Scarlet Course at Ohio State. Our guys will be tested by a classic golf course that has held numerous championships. This should be a great tune-up event before our SEC Championship next week at Sea Island. The forecast calls for snow, wind and rain on Sunday; However, we have a veteran lineup in place that should be able to handle the adverse conditions.”

GOING UP AGAINST THE BEST
The Gamecocks traditionally participate in some of the nation’s toughest tournaments and the 2006-07 schedule fits the bill. According to the most recent Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (April 9), South Carolina’s schedule ranks No. 10 nationally.

NEXT UP
Postseason play has nearly arrived. The SEC Championship is scheduled for April 20-22 at the Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga.