DICK'S Sporting Goods Challenge Cup Up Next for UVa Men's Golfers
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Sept. 18, 2014
Charlottesville, Va. – This weekend, the Virginia men’s golf team will play its second tournament of the fall at the second annual DICK’S Sporting Goods Collegiate Challenge Cup, hosted by the Nashville Sports Council and The Golf Club of Tennessee. The tournament will take place. Sept. 19-21.
One of the only events of its kind in the country, this unique, multi-day collegiate competition brings 12 teams from the ACC and SEC together for a 54-hole team and individual stroke play event, followed by an 18-hole match play conference finale, pitting the teams in each conference against each other to play for Top Conference honors.
This year’s tournament will feature five of the top 10 and seven of the top 20 preseason men’s teams in the country, as ranked by Golfweek. Representing the Atlantic Coast Conference will be Clemson (No. 17), Duke, Georgia Tech (No. 3), Louisville, NC State and Virginia (No. 11). Georgia (No. 9), Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina (No. 7), Texas A&M (No. 8) and Vanderbilt (No. 6) will represent the Southeastern Conference in this year’s event.
Play will begin at 8 a.m. on Friday, with teams teeing off on holes No. 1 and No. 10. The second round will begin at 1 p.m. on Friday with a similar double tee start. Stroke play will continue on Saturday at 9 a.m. with teams starting in order of Friday’s 36-hole scoring.
The Conference Challenge will take place on Sunday, with teams from the ACC playing 18-hole matches against their similarly ranked opponent from the SEC. The conference that accumulates the most points on Sunday will be crowned the 2014 Collegiate Challenge Cup Champion.
Virginia’s lineup will include senior All-American Denny McCarthy (Rockville, Md.), senior Ji Soo Park (Clifton, Va.), sophomore Derek Bard (New Hartford, N.Y.), sophomore Jimmy Stanger (Tampa, Fla.) and freshman Austen Truslow (New Smyrna Beach, Fla.).
McCarthy is making his season debut after missing UVa’s first event of the season while helping the United States squad win the World Amateur Team Championship in Japan. The Cavaliers claimed their first win of the season by capturing the Northern Intercollegiate title. Stanger led UVa with a seventh-place effort while Bard was eighth and Park placed 11th. Truslow posted an 11th-place finish in his collegiate debut.
Last year Virginia defeated Texas A&M 3-2 to record the ACC’s only victory in match play. The Cavaliers were sixth in the stroke play portion of the tournament. McCarthy led UVa by tying for fifth place at 3-under 210.
ESPNU and the SEC Network will air a recap of the DICK’s Sporting Goods Collegiate Cup later this fall.