Hot Springs, Va., June 2, 2004 ¨C The Penn State Men¡¯s Golf team followed up yesterday¡¯s collective 289 (+9) with an 11-over 291 and fell to 15th place at this week¡¯s NCAA Championships. Mark Leon (Brampton, Ontario) leads the Nittany Lions and sits in a seventh place tie overall after firing his second straight sub-par round. Leon birdied three of his final four holes in yesterday¡¯s first round to finish up with a 1-under 69 and followed that up with a second-round 69 that featured three birdies and two bogies.

Junior Greg Pieczynski (Kingston, Pa.) birdied a team-best four holes in today¡¯s second round, but bogeyed eight holes on his way to a 4-over 74. Pieczynski carded a first-round 76 for a two-day total of 150 (+10) and sits in 112th place overall. Freshman Jason Pannone (East Greenwich, RI) fired a solid 73 in today¡¯s second round, as he moved into a tie for 75th place (+7). Pannone and Ted Neville (Oklahoma City, Okla.) each carded first-round 74s, with Neville shooting a 5-over 75 today to head into Thursday¡¯s third round in a 100th place tie. Sophomore Marco Poccia (Saratoga Springs, NY) struggled to a second-round 79, but sits in 120th place overall with his 11-over 151.

For the second consecutive day, California sits on top of both the team and individual leaderboards. The Golden Bears sit at 568 and lead Kentucky by one stroke for the tournament lead, while Cal¡¯s Jeff Hood is one of three golfers atop the individual leaderboard at four under par. BYU (570) is in third place overall, with Washington (571) and Pepperdine (571), rounding out the top five. Pepperdine carded a tournament-best 276 (-4) in the second round to move up to a fourth place tie.

Third round play begins tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. with the top three teams (Cal, BYU, Pepperdine) teeing off first. The Nittany Lions will start from the 10th tee for the second straight day, teeing off at 8:30 a.m. alongside Clemson and Purdue. The Championship field will be cut in half after tomorrow¡¯s round, with the top 15 squads moving on to play in Friday¡¯s final round.

Team Leaderboard

1 California +8 279 289 568
2 Kentucky +9 283 286 569
3 Brigham Young +10 280 290 570
T4 Washington +11 289 282 571
T4 Pepperdine +11 295 276 571
T6 Georgia State +12 292 280 572
T6 UCLA +12 289 283 572
T8 TCU +13 281 292 573
T8 Arizona +13 292 281 573
T10 Florida +14 285 289 574
T10 Texas +14 288 286 574
T10 Georgia Tech +14 289 285 574
13 Clemson +15 285 290 575
14 Purdue +17 292 285 577
15 Penn State U. +20 289 291 580
T16 Auburn +21 283 298 581
T16 Oklahoma +21 286 295 581
T16 Oklahoma State +21 292 289 581
T19 Kent State +22 294 288 582
T19 New Mexico +22 291 291 582
T19 USC +22 284 298 582
22 Texas A&M +23 291 292 583
T23 SMU +25 297 288 585
T23 North Carolina +25 294 291 585
25 Toledo +26 294 292 586
26 Georgia +27 285 302 587
27 Arizona State U. +36 292 304 596
28 Vanderbilt +37 294 303 597
29 Wichita State +42 298 304 602
30 Rhode Island +50 299 311 610

Top 20 Individuals

T1 Jeff Hood California -4 65 71 136
T1 Chris Nallen Arizona -4 69 67 136
T1 Matt Wells Kentucky -4 68 68 136
T4 A.J. Elgert Kansas State -3 68 69 137
T4 Travis Johnson UCLA -3 69 68 137
T4 Ryan Moore UNLV -3 67 70 137
T7 Bill Haas Wake Forest -2 70 68 138
T7 Jason Hartwick Texas -2 70 68 138
T7 Mark Leon Penn State -2 69 69 138
T10 Matt Hendrix Clemson -1 71 68 139
T10 Kasper Jorgensen Georgia State Univ. -1 69 70 139
T10 Jeff Overton Indiana University -1 67 72 139
T10 Michael Putnam Pepperdine -1 74 65 139
T10 Chan Wongluekiet Georgia Tech -1 70 69 139
T15 Ben Hayes Southern California E 69 71 140
T15 John Holmes Kentucky E 71 69 140
T15 Shiv Kapur Purdue E 72 68 140
T15 Matthew Rosenfeld Texas E 69 71 140
T19 Mark Lamb Arizona +1 72 69 141
T19 Alex Prugh Washington +1 71 70 141
T19 Stephen Reed Texas A&M +1 73 68 141
T19 Ryan Yip Kent State +1 71 70 141