UVa Men's Golfers Open NCAA Regional Play Thursday

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May 13, 2015

Charlottesville, Va. – The No. 27 Virginia men’s golf team opens play at the NCAA Regional in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., Thursday, May 14. The 54-hole event runs through Saturday at the par-72, 6,947-yard The Farms Golf Club. Virginia is the No. 5 seed in the 13-team field. The top five finishers from six NCAA regional sites advance to the NCAA Championships set for May 29-June 3 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.

The regional berth marks the 19th time since 1990 the Cavaliers have competed in postseason play. Virginia is looking to advance to the NCAA Championships for the 14th time in its history. Last year the Cavaliers were seventh at a regional site in Columbia, Mo., and did not advance to the NCAA Championships. Denny McCarthy (Rockville, Md.) finished sixth at the regional to receive an at-large berth to the NCAAs as an individual competitor. He placed sixth at the NCAAs.

McCarthy is joined in this year’s regional lineup by senior Ji Soo Park (Clifton, Va.), junior Kyle Kochevar (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) and sophomores Derek Bard (New Hartford, N.Y.) and Jimmy Stanger (Tampa, Fla.). All of those players, except for Kochevar, competed in last year’s NCAA Regional.

McCarthy and Bard, who were named to the All-ACC team earlier this week, lead the Cavaliers in stroke average. McCarthy is first on the team at 70.69 while Bard is second at 70.91. They have combined to be UVa’s top finisher in six of 11 tournaments this season. Kochevar, Stanger and Park have all led the team in scoring at least once this year.

The Cavaliers are paired with No. 4 seed New Mexico and No. 6 seed Georgia during the opening round. Those teams start play Thursday at 8:20 a.m. PT from the 10th tee.

The field for the regional includes (listed by seed): 1. Arizona State, 2. Georgia Tech, 3. Oklahoma, 4. New Mexico, 5. Virginia, 6. Georgia, 7. East Tennessee State, 8. Mississippi, 9. San Diego, 10. Idaho, 11. St. Mary’s, 12. Wichita State, 13. Eastern Kentucky.

Virginia is one of 10 ACC schools participating in this year’s championship, the most in league history and the largest number by a single conference in this year’s field. The other ACC participants are: Virginia Tech (Noblesville, Ind.), Florida State (Chapel Hill, N.C.), North Carolina (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Wake Forest (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Clemson (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Georgia Tech (Rancho Sante Fe, Calif.) Louisville (Lubbock, Texas), Duke (Lubbock, Texas), NC State (New Haven, Conn.).