Monday, March 13, 2006

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – With three players finishing in the top five on the individual leaderboard, the 12th-ranked ETSU men’s golf team fired a final round 292 and captured a 10-stroke victory over host team Coastal Carolina in the General Hackler Invitational Monday at the TPC of Myrtle Beach. The Bucs led all three rounds of the tournament.

ETSU finished with a team score of 3-over-par 867 (286-289-292), as junior Rhys Davies (Bridgend, Wales) led the way with a second-place finish thanks to a three-round score of 5-under 211 (69-70-72). While he finished one stroke back of Pepperdine’s Alex Coe for the individual title, it was the play of Davies, as well as freshman Jordan Findlay (Fraserburgh, Scotland) and sophomore Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) that resulted in a team victory. Findlay finished in third place at 3-under 213 (70-70-73), while Shaw tied for fifth at 1-under 215 (70-75-70).

It is the first regular season title for the Bucs since winning the Cavalier Classic in 2001, even though the team has enjoyed postseason victories in the NCAA East Regional (2001) and Southern Conference Tournament (2005) since that time.