Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Atlantic Sun's two NCAA Regional participants opened First Round play with strong showings as No. 22 UNF sits third in South Central Regional play while ETSU places fourth through 18 holes at the East Regional.

UNF - South Central Regional - Traditions Club Golf Course - Bryan, Texas

BRYAN, Texas – The University of North Florida golf team is in third place after shooting an 8-under, 280 in the first round of the 2010 NCAA South Central Men’s Golf Regional at Texas A&M’s Traditions Club Golf Course in Bryan, Texas. Freshman Kevin Phelan is tied for first with a 6-under, 66.

UNF is three strokes behind tournament leaders, No. 2 Texas A&M and No. 25-21 TCU. Both teams shot 11-under, 277 in the opening round. No. 10/13 Texas Tech is two strokes behind the Ospreys with a 6-under 282 to hold on to fourth place while Wichita State rounds out the top five with a 5-under 283.

Sophomores Joe Byun and Sean Dale are tied for 12th with a 1-under, 71’s. Senior Jordan Gibb is tied for 23rd after shooting even par, 72 on the day while fellow senior J.C. Horne is tied for 34th with a 1-over, 73.

“Kevin played a great round today,” said head coach Scott Schroeder. “The rest of the guys also played real solid. Tomorrow is a new day and we need to come out focused to do it again.”

ETSU- East Regional - The Course at Yale - New Haven, Conn.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Junior Rhys Enoch (Cornwall, England) carded a 5-under-par 65 to finish second on the individual leaderboard and lead the ETSU men’s golf team to a strong fourth place standing after first round action in the NCAA East Regional Thursday at The Course at Yale.

On the team leaderboard, the 31st-ranked Bucs are fourth at 2-under 278, four strokes back of first place and seventh-ranked Texas. Individually, Cody Gribble of Texas had to post an impressive 8-under-par 64 to best Enoch by one stroke.

Enoch made his move on the back nine after finishing at even par through the first nine holes. He birdied at No. 10, 13, 16 and 17, and eagled the final hole on a short wedge that found the bottom of the cup.

“I played very well all day really, and got things going nicely at the turn,” Enoch said. “I was able to string together some birdies, and holing out a wedge from 79 yards for eagle on the last hole was nice. It took one bounce and went straight in.

Jeff Karlsson, Kennesaw State - Southeast Regional - Crabapple Club - Alpharetta, Ga.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Kennesaw State sophomore Jeff Karlsson shot a 5-over par 75 on Thursday during the first round of the NCAA Southeast Regional, held at the Crabapple Club in Alpharetta, Ga. He finds himself in a tie for 39th heading into Friday’s second round, when he will tee off at 9:30.

Karlsson, who is the first-ever Owl to qualify for an NCAA Division I golf regional, was even par through 14 holes on the par-70 layout before trouble found him in the bunkers before he could get into the clubhouse. He pulled his tee-shot on the par-3, 220 yard 15th hole into a sand trap short of the green, and it took him two shots to get the ball onto the green, leading to a double-bogey five. After making bogey on number 16, a par-4, he would once again have a tough experience in the sand. His tee shot on the par-4 17th would find a fairway bunker, and his second shot hit the front lip of it, resulting in him having to take another shot to get it out, which ultimately led to a double-bogey six.

The Gothenburg, Sweden native, who is ranked 164th in the nation among collegiate golfers according to Golfstat, had a round of ups and downs. He began his day at 10:10 a.m. and made bogey on the first two holes, and after making pars on numbers three and four, it appeared that he could be headed for a high score, before making some nice recoveries to keep his round in check. An errant tee shot on the short par-4 fifth put him in the trees, and after pitching out to the right of the green, he hit his third shot about 10 feet past the hole, leaving him with a tricky downhill putt for par. He would respond by curling the putt in for a solid par.

On the very next hole, the par-3 sixth, Karlsson was left with a tough up-and-down opportunity after hitting his tee shot left of the green. He hit his chip firm, and it was perfectly on-line, hitting the flag stick and falling in for an improbable birdie-two to put him at just one-over par for the day.

Following three straight pars to close out the front nine in 1-over 36, he would make birdies on holes 10 and 12 to put him at one-under for the day before he ran into trouble towards the end of the round.