Hot Springs, Va., June 1, 2004 - The Penn State Men's Golf team fired a solid 289 (+9) at the first round of this week's NCAA Championships, ending the day in a 12th place tie. Junior Mark Leon (Brampton, Ontario) led the Nittany Lions and is tied for ninth place on the individual leaderboard after firing a team-best 69 in today's first round. Leon birdied three of his final four holes to close out his round under par.

Marco Poccia (Saratoga Springs, NY) sits in a 51st place tie after carding a 2-over 72, while senior Ted Neville (Oklahoma City, Okla.) and freshman Jason Pannone currently sit in a 88th place tie after firing first-round 74s. Junior Greg Pieczynski (Kingston, Pa.), a top-five finisher at last week's East Regional, shot identical 38s on the front and back nines to end the day with a 6-over 76.

Penn State is making its fourth ever NCAA Championships appearance and first since 1996. The team finished in second place at last week's NCAA East Regional - the best Regional finish in program history. Greg Pieczynski led the Lions as he finished in a tie for fourth place.

The University of California, one of six competing Pac-10 schools, leads the 30-team field with a collective 279 (-1) and also lays claim to the top individual scorer, with Jeff Hood carding a tournament-best 65 (-5) at the par 70 course. BYU (280), TCU (281), Auburn (283) and Kentucky (283) round out the top five heading into the second round.

Second round action begins at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, with Penn State teeing off from Hole No. 10 at 7:18 a.m. For more information on Penn State Golf, please visit the school's official athletic website at www.GoPSUsports.com.

Team Leaderboard 1 California -1 279 2 Brigham Young E 280 3 TCU +1 281 T4 Auburn +3 283 T4 Kentucky +3 283 6 Southern California +4 284 T7 Clemson +5 285 T7 Florida +5 285 T7 Georgia +5 285 10 Oklahoma +6 286 11 Texas +8 288 T12 Texas A&M +9 289 T12 Penn State +9 289 T12 UCLA +9 289 T12 Washington +9 289 T12 Georgia Tech +9 289 17 New Mexico +11 291 T18 Georgia State Univ. +12 292 T18 Purdue +12 292 T18 Arizona +12 292 T18 Oklahoma State +12 292 T22 North Carolina +14 294 T22 Kent State +14 294 T22 Toledo +14 294 T22 Vanderbilt +14 294 T22 Arizona State U. +14 294 27 Pepperdine +15 295 28 SMU +17 297 29 Wichita State Univ. +18 298 30 Rhode Island, U. of +19 299 Top 20 Individuals 1 - Jeff Hood California, U. of -5 65 T2 - Kevin Kisner (10) Georgia -4 66 T2 - Adam Meyer (10) TCU -4 66 T4 - Ryan Moore * UNLV -3 67 T4 - Jeff Overton (10) * Indiana University -3 67 T6 - Jonathan Dismuke Auburn -2 68 T6 - A.J. Elgert * Kansas State Univ. -2 68 T6 - Matt Wells (10) Kentucky, U. of -2 68 T9 - Jack Ferguson (10) Clemson -1 69 T9 - Ben Hayes Southern California -1 69 T9 - Travis Johnson (10) UCLA -1 69 T9 - Kasper Jorgensen (10) Georgia State Univ. -1 69 T9 - Mark Leon Penn State U. -1 69 T9 - Todd Miller (10) Brigham Young Univ. -1 69 T9 - Jessie Mudd (10) Florida -1 69 T9 - Chris Nallen (10) Arizona -1 69 T9 - Stephen Polanski (10) TCU -1 69 T9 - Matthew Rosenfeld Texas -1 69 T9 - Joshua Wooding Southern California -1 69 T20 - Oscar Alvarez (10) Brigham Young Univ. E 70 T20 - Alejandro Canizares Arizona State U. E 70 T20 - Jake Ellison (10) Brigham Young Univ. E 70 T20 - Bill Haas * Wake Forest Univ. E 70 T20 - Jason Hartwick Texas E 70 T20 - Tyler Leon Oklahoma State E 70 T20 - Blake Martin (10) Oklahoma, U. of E 70 T20 - Madalitso Muthiya New Mexico E 70 T20 - Nicholas Thompson Georgia Tech E 70 T20 - Chan Wongluekiet Georgia Tech E 70