May 17, 2007

TEMPE, Ariz. – Fueled by a trio of four-under par performances, the South Carolina men’s golf team sits in second place following the first round of play at the NCAA West Regional at the Arizona State University Karsten Course (Par 72, 7,057 yards) in Tempe, Ariz., where temperatures reached 100 degrees Thursday. The Gamecocks shot their best team round of the season with a 273 and are 15 strokes under par and five strokes behind fourth-ranked UCLA, who leads the regional at 20-under.

Junior Mark Anderson, sophomore Florian Fritsch and freshman George Bryan IV all opened with a 68 on Thursday. The trio sits in a tie for 12th place individually. Today’s round marked a season best for Fritsch and Anderson, both of whom posted eagles on No. 2. Sophomore Mark Silvers was one stroke behind his teammates with a three-under par 69, good for a share of 21st place. Junior Warren Thomas posted a first-round 74 (+2), tying him for 99th.

Of the 27 teams competing in the field, nine are ranked in the top 25 by both Golf Stat and Golfweek. South Carolina entered the regional with rankings of No. 33 by Golfweek and No. 35 according to Golf Stat.

The West Regional continues on Friday and Saturday with the top 10 teams advancing to the NCAA finals May 31-June 4 in Williamsburg, Va. Carolina tees off in the second round at 7:35 a.m. PT. Live scoring is available online at www.golfstat.com or by following the links at the Gamecocks’ official athletics web site at uscsports.com.

South Carolina Scores (First Round)
T12 Mark Anderson 68 (-4)
T12 George Bryan IV 68 (-4)
T12 Florian Frtisch 68 (-4)
T21 Mark Silvers 69 (-3)
T99 Warren Thomas 74 (+2)

Team Standings (Through First Round)
1 UCLA -20 268
2 South Carolina -15 273
T3 Arizona State U. -13 275
T3 New Mexico -13 275
T5 Stanford -11 277
T5 Southern California -11 277
T5 Pepperdine -11 277
8 East Tennessee St. -10 278
9 California -8 280
T10 Oregon State U. -7 281
T10 UNLV -7 281
12 Arizona -6 282
T13 Brigham Young Univ. -5 283
T13 Vanderbilt -5 283
T15 Colorado State Univ. -4 284
T15 Augusta State -4 284
T15 Washington -4 284
T18 Denver, U. of -3 285
T18 Wake Forest Univ. -3 285
20 Pennsylvania, U. of E 288
T21 Nevada, Univ. of +1 289
T21 UC-Irvine +1 289
23 Oregon, U. of +4 292
24 San Diego State +8 296
25 Detroit +9 297
26 Bucknell University +11 299
27 Monmouth University +14 302