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Cavalier Golfers Open Play at NCAAs Wednesday
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Charlottesville, VA — The Virginia men’s golf team opens play at the 111th NCAA Championships Wednesday at 8:35 a.m. from the first tee at Purdue’s Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex. The Cavaliers are one of 30 teams competing in the four-day tournament that cuts the field down to 15 teams for Saturday’s final round. UVa will be paired with Middle Tennessee and Texas during the first and second rounds. Thursday, for the second round, the Cavaliers will tee off at 1:47 p.m. starting on the 10th tee. Links to live scoring are at VirginiaSports.com and Golfstat.com.
The 2008 NCAA Championships mark the 11th time the Cavaliers have earned a bid to the national tournament. The Cavaliers’ last appearance was in 2000 when the team placed 25th. Former Virginia golfer Dixon Brooke won the NCAA individual crown in 1940, the second year of the championship. The Cavaliers finished 15th that year as a team. UVa’s best NCAA finish came in 1946 when the Cavaliers were 11th in an 18-team field.
The Virginia Lineup
Name Year Hometown Stroke Avg.
Greg Carlin Sr. Kensington, Maryland 73.28
Will Collins Fr. Salisbury, North Carolina 73.04
Amory Davis Fr. Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania 76.41
Steven Rojas So. Aadorf, Switzerland 72.78
Kyle Stough So. Laurel, Maryland 73.28
Back Home Again in Indiana
The NCAA Championships mark the third time this season the Cavaliers have competed in the Hoosier State. Virginia finished eighth of 15 teams at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate (Sept. 22-23) and was fourth of 12 teams at Notre Dame’s Gridiron Classic (Sept. 30-Oct. 2). No other team in the NCAA field played in both of those events.
The High Seed
The No. 22 seed at the East Regional, Virginia is the highest seeded team from any of the three regionals to advance to the NCAA Championships. The Cavaliers are ranked No. 60 in the latest Golfstat standings and figure 63rd in the Golfweek poll.
Double Dippers
Virginia is one of 12 teams in the NCAA men’s championships field that saw its women’s team compete in last week’s NCAA Championships in New Mexico. That group includes: Alabama, Arizona State, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, Virginia and Wake Forest.
Two-Time Champs
Virginia won a pair of tournaments during the 2007-08 season. The Cavaliers placed first at the Palmas Del Mar Collegiate in Puerto Rico, shooting 7-under 857. Virginia won its own Cavalier Classic in its last outing with a 36-hole total of 575. UVa’s other strong showings included a third-place finish at Florida State’s Seminole Intercollegiate and a fourth-place effort at Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish Gridiron Classic.
Regional Recap
Virginia used a dramatic final-day rally to finish 10th at the NCAA East Regional and earn the tournament’s final berth to the national championships. UVa entered the final round of the regional in 16th place, 10 shots out of 10th place. Virginia shot 8-under 276, the team’s lowest round of the year, to sneak by Michigan State by two shots to finish 10th. Freshman Will Collins led the UVa charge with a season-low 67 while sophomores Steven Rojas and Kyle Stough both shot 2-under 69. Rojas was Virginia’s top finisher, placing 17th at 4-under 209. Collins was 23rd at 210, Stough was 38th at 213, Greg Carlin shot 220 to place 94th and Conrad Von Borsig was 129th at 226.