May 4, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. –
The South Carolina men’s golf team, ranked 13th in the final regular-season GolfStat ratings, earned a bid to an NCAA Regional for the 14th straight year and the 18th time overall in school history. The Gamecocks will be the No. 3 seed in a 14-team field at the Sorrento, Fla., regional, hosted by the University of Central Florida, at Red Tail Golf Club. Regional play runs May 14-16 at six different sites around the country.

The Gamecocks will join SEC foes Georgia and Kentucky in the regional as well as several other strong programs. Georgia is the top seed in the regional with Indiana second, South Carolina third, host school UCF fourth and Florida State fifth. Kentucky is the No. 8 seed in the region. Eleven of the 12 Southeastern Conference schools earned a bid to one of the six regionals; the other five regional sites are Galloway, N.J.; Bowling Green, Ky.; Stillwater, Okla.; Austin, Texas; and Daly City, Calif. In all, 81 teams earned bids to the NCAA Golf Championships.

South Carolina will be looking to make it back to the NCAA Championships for the third time in four years after missing the finals last season. The top five teams from each region will advance along with the top individual from each region not on an advancing team. The 30 finalists will compete for the NCAA title at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, May 26-30.

For a full listing of the NCAA Championship field, log on to NCAA.com.

NCAA MEN’S GOLF REGIONAL FIELD(Automatic bids in parentheses)

Red Tail Golf Club – Sorrento, Fla.

1. Georgia (SEC Champion)

2. Indiana

3. South Carolina

4. UCF (Conference USA Champion)

5. Florida State

6. Arizona State

7. Augusta State

8. Kentucky

9. Georgia Southern

10. Georgia State

11. Iowa

12. Charlotte (Atlantic 10 Champion)

13. Campbell (Atlantic Sun Champion)

14. Loyola (Md.) (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Champion)

Individuals: Zach Sucher, UAB; Mark Etienne-Bussieres, South Alabama; Josh Brock, UNC Wilmington; Bill Jones III, Mercer; Kelly McHugh, Florida Atlantic.