UVa Men's Golfers Open Regional Play in Ninth Place

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Radford, VA – The 21st-ranked Virginia men’s golf team is tied for ninth place following the opening round of play at the NCAA East Regional taking place in Radford, Va. at the Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers shot 17-over 305 at the tournament that runs through Saturday.

Top-seeded Georgia Tech, the ACC Champions, took the early lead at 1-over 289. Duke is second at 295 followed by Kent State and Oklahoma at 296 and Coastal Carolina at 299. The top five teams from the 54-hole regional will advance to the NCAA Championships. Georgia Tech’s Kyle Scott shot 4-under 68 to take the lead for medalist honors.

Henry Smart led Virginia by shooting 2-over 74 to stand 14th overall after the first 18 holes. Bruce Woodall is in 36th position at 76, Will Collins is 44th at 77, Ben Rusch is 54th at 78 and Ben Kohles is 59th at 79.

Having to count six double bogeys during the opening round hurt the Cavaliers’ chances of staying among the top five teams.

“Things didn’t go our way today,” said Virginia coach Bowen Sargent. “We continued our trend of slow starts. Hopefully this will be our worst round of the week. If it is, it would be the seventh time in 13 tournaments this year that our worst round has been the first round. We’ve been good at playing from behind this year and at past regionals and we can only hope that trend continues.”

The East Regional marks the 15th time since 1990 the Cavaliers have participated in postseason play. Virginia is looking to advance to the NCAA Championships for the 14th time in its history. Virginia has competed at the NCAA Championships in each of the last three seasons.

Virginia will start its second round at 8:50 a.m. from the 10th tee. The Cavaliers will play with Lamar and Ole Miss. Live scoring of the tournament will be online at Golfstat.com.

NCAA East Regional
The Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech
Radford, VA
Par-72, 7,400 yards
First Round Results

Team Results
1. Georgia Tech 289
2. Duke 295
3. Kent State 296
3. Oklahoma 296
5. Coastal Carolina 299
6. Virginia Tech 300
7. East Carolina 302
8. UNC Wilmington 304
9. LSU 305
9. Virginia 305
11. Lamar 311
11. Ole Miss 311
13. Yale 313

Individual Leaders
1. Kyle Scott, Georgia Tech 68
2. Abraham Ancer, Oklahoma 70
3. Brinson Paolini, Duke 71
3. Payne McLeod, UNC Wilmington 71
3. Josh Brock, UNC Wilmington 71
3. Vaita Guillaume*, Campbell 71
7. Richard Fountain*, Davidson 72
* Competing as an individual

Virginia Results
14. Henry Smart 74
36. Bruce Woodall 76
44. Will Collins 77
54. Ben Rusch 78
59. Ben Kohles 79