STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Committee recently announced the teams and individuals selected to play in this year's Regional championships. Penn State's golf team was selected to play in the NCAA East Regional at the Ansley Golf Club's Settin' Down Creek in Roswell, Ga. The Nittany Lions will be making their tenth straight NCAA appearance.
With six of the top 10 teams in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings headed to the same site, Penn State will have to play solid golf in order to qualify for the NCAA Championships to be held May 29-June 1 at Ohio State's Scarlet course in Columbus. The top ten teams and two individuals at each Regional qualify for the national championship.
Heading the field at Settin' Down Creek is No. 1 Georgia Tech, winners of six tournaments this season and the school serving as host in the East. Other top teams include, No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 4 and defending NCAA champion Florida, No. 8 Tennessee and No. 10 Auburn. Also in the field are No. 12 Georgia and No. 16 Augusta State. Penn State is ranked 65th.
Penn State will be head to Regional coming off a tenth place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Previously, they had won two out of three tournaments (Princeton Invitational and Rutherford Intercollegiate) with record-breaking scores. In the third tournament , the First Energy Intercollegiate, they tied for the team title, but lost in a one-hole playoff.
The Lions will head to the Regional with a senior dominated lineup. Seniors Andy Latowski (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Josh Dawes (Jacksonville, Fla.), Jim Fuller (Muskogee, Okla.) and Jeff Turton (Ithaca, N.Y.) along with freshman Mark Leon (Brampton, Ontario) are the five Nittany Lion entries.
Penn State finished 16th at last year's East Regional. The last time the Nittany Lions made it out of the Regional championship and into the NCAA championships was in 1996.
The East Regional will take place from May 16-18.
NCAA Division I --EAST REGIONAL
Teams
1. Georgia Tech (Atlantic Coast)
2. Florida
3. Tennessee
4. Wake Forest
5. Clemson
6. Augusta State
7. Auburn (SEC)
8. Georgia
9. North Carolina
10. Duke
11. Alabama-Birmingham
12. North Florida
13. South Carolina
14. Virginia
15. College of Charleston (Southern)
16. Michigan State
17. Coastal Carolina (Big South)
18. Furman
19. Georgia Southern
20. Jacksonville State (Atlantic Sun)
21. Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial)
22. Penn State
23. South Alabama (Sun Belt)
24. William and Mary
25. Yale
26. Rhode Island (Atlantic 10)
27. Iona (Metro Atlantic)
Individuals
1. Andy Smith, Southeastern Louisiana
2. Brandt Snedeker, Vanderbilt
3. Tim Yelverton, Southern Mississippi
4. Simon Dunn, Campbell
5. Adam Gee, North Carolina-Wilmington
6. David Ryles, Charleston Southern
