May 7, 2007

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The NCAA released the Division I Men’s Golf regional field Monday and the University of South Carolina is the No. 11 seed in the West Regional, which will be played May 17-19, at the Arizona State University Karsten Creek Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz. This is the 13th straight and 19th overall invitation to NCAA Regionals for the Gamecocks.

“I’m so excited for the guys to continue on with our season,” associate head coach Bill McDonald said of the Gamecocks’ selection. “The spring season was very solid. I still don’t think we’ve played our best golf. Hopefully continue to improve. The team is extremely excited to go and play for the national championship. Being ranked so low at the end of the fall, we knew our backs were against the wall. We had talked about that. This is a reward to some extent, but we also realize that it’s a fresh start, too. They have an opportunity to do something special and I think they can do it. I’ve seen us play some of the top teams in the country and there’s no doubt in my mind that we can hang with any of them.”

Three regional tournaments, encompassing the current nine regions, will be conducted May 17-19. A total of 27 teams and six individuals not on selected teams were assigned to each regional site. Ten teams and two individuals not on advancing teams will move on from each regional to the championship finals, played May 30-June 2 at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va.

This marks the third time the Gamecocks have been placed in the NCAA West Regional. Led by Kyle Thompson’s first-place individual showing, the 2001 team placed fifth to advance in Corvalis, Ore., to the NCAA Championship. In 2005, Carolina tied for 10th in Stanford, Calif., but did not move to the NCAA Championship after falling in a playoff.Carolina advanced to the NCAA finals last season after finishing ninth in the NCAA East Regional in Orlando, Fla.

South Carolina is joined by No. 13-seed Vanderbilt in the West Regional. A total of eight Southeastern Conference teams made the field. The East Regional in Alpharetta, Ga., includes No. 1 seed Georgia, No. 3 Florida, No. 11 Auburn and No. 12 Mississippi. Top-seeded Alabama and No. 6 seed Tennessee will play in the Central Regional in Grove, Ill.

The Gamecocks are listed at No. 33 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (May 6) and are No. 35 in the most recent Golf Stat rankings (May 2). Carolina has posted three top-four finishes this season and played the nation’s No. 10 schedule, according to Golfweek.

2007 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional Fields

WEST REGIONAL
ASU Karsten Creek Golf Course – Tempe, Ariz.
Hosted by the Arizona State
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Stanford
2. UCLA
3. UNLV
4. Southern California (Pacific-10 Conference)
5. East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun Conference)
6. Brigham Young (Mountain West Conference)
7. Arizona State
8. Wake Forest
9. Arizona
10. UC Irvine (Big West Conference)
11. South Carolina
12. Washington
13. Vanderbilt
14. Augusta State
15. Pepperdine (West Coast Conference)
16. San Diego State
17. New Mexico
18. Oregon State
19. Colorado State
20. Oregon
21. California
22. Nevada (Western Athletic Conference)
23. Denver
24. Pennsylvania (Ivy Group)
25. Detroit (Horizon League)
26. Bucknell (Patriot League)
27. Monmouth (Northeast Conference)

Individuals:
1. Brian Locke, Loyola Marymount
2. Dustin Pimm, Utah
3. Darrin Hall, San Diego
4. Michael McRae, St. Mary’s (California)
5. Geoff Gonzalez, Cal Poly
6. Thomas Petersson, Pacific