Aug. 27, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina men’s golf enters the 2008-09 season ranked 19th in the nation, according to the Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches’ Poll released today. The Gamecocks return two of their top-three scorers from a 2007-08 squad that collected eight top-five finishes, including a second-place showing in the 2008 Southeastern Conference Championship.

UCLA, the 2008 NCAA champion, sits atop the preseason top 25, just ahead of Oklahoma State. Including South Carolina, six SEC teams are in the ranking, led by Georgia at No. 3.

South Carolina will be led in 2008-09 by first-team All-SEC selection George Bryan IV, a junior, and senior Mark Silvers III. Bryan closed out his sophomore season with a 72.47 stroke average to rank 15th in the SEC. He picked up his first career victory in the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational in the spring and went on to claim second at the SEC Championship, the best-placed Gamecock in the event since 1999.

Silvers was third on the team with a 73.13 average and collected three top-15 finishes last season. His final-round 68 in the SEC Championship lifted him into seventh place, his career-best finish. He is joined by fellow seniors Patrick Cunning, who finished a career-best 10th at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate last spring, Baker Elmore and Allen Koon, who turned in two top-20 finishes last fall.

With Bryan in the junior class are 2007 South Carolina Golf Association Player of the Year Patrick Rada, Bryan Miller and Paul Woodbury, one of five current Gamecocks who played in the 2008 U.S. Amateur Championship. Adding depth to the group are sophomore Chris Piumelli and freshmen Sam Braver, Wesley Bryan and Clint Tolleson.

South Carolina tees up the 2008-09 season at the Carpet Capital Collegiate at The Farm on Sept. 12.