May 30, 2010
University Park, Pa. - The Penn State men's golf team will join the best 29 teams in the country at the 2010 NCAA Championships June 1-6. The elite 30 have distinguished themselves among the Div. I golf world and have earned a spot to fight for the NCAA title. The Nittany Lions are eager to hit the links to prove that they not only belong at the Finals but that they are true competitors.
"What people are generally unfamiliar with is that we have 304 Div. I teams and at least half of that number have programs that have at one time qualified for the NCAA Regional," said head coach Greg Nye. "There are a lot of good teams around the county and not all are from big conferences with house- hold names. With that being true, any team reaching the NCAA Finals feels they have achieved something great."
The Final field will take the links on The par 72, 7,395-yard Honors Course, hosted by The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The Pete Dye design opened July 2, 1983 and is located just north of Chattanooga, Tenn., in Ooltewah. The course has played host to amateur tournaments such as the USGA Men's Amateur, the USGA Mid-Amateur Championships, the Curtis Cup Matches, and the NCAA Men's Div. I Championships ('96).
"Going into the Finals, I think we have come back down from a high and the players have done a good job managing their rest, touching up parts of their game, and getting more focused each day," said Nye. "I know the golf course so I have given them some comparable golf courses we have played so they can begin to tend to strategy situations before we get down there. I am grateful it has been hot in Pennsylvania this past week because we will face some high temperatures in Chattanooga."
The Nittany Lions enter the field seeded 25th for the first two days of competition as determined by the men's golf committee. The 30-team field includes (in order of seeding) Oregon, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Washington, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Southern California, Augusta State, Florida State, Clemson, UCLA, Florida, Georgia Tech, UNLV, Kent State, TCU, San Diego, California, Arizona State, Oregon State, North Florida, Duke, Tennessee, Penn State, Virginia, Illinois, LSU, Baylor, and Georgia Southern.
Six individuals will also be competing for the individual title and those include Espen Kofstad of Denver, Russell Henley of Georgia, Nick Delio of CSUN, Rhys Enoch of Eastern Tennessee State, Robbie Fillmore of BYU, and Marshall Bailey of Virginia Tech.
Regional Review
The Penn State men's golf team showed its true colors at the 2010 NCAA Regionals as it competed and beat some of the highest ranked teams in the country. Nearly knocking off two top-ten ranked teams in No. 6 UCLA and No. 7 Texas the Nittany Lions finished fourth securing their bid to the 2010 NCAA Finals. With exceptional play throughout all 54 holes, the Penn State team shocked the collegiate-golf world outplaying higher-ranked opponents such as No. 17 South Carolina, No. 19 Virginia, No. 29 Alabama, No. 32 East Tennessee State, No. 42 Southeastern Louisiana, No. 47 Charlotte, and No. 56 Vanderbilt, to earn its spot. Standout performances came from both seniors T.J. Howe (Osceola, Pa.) who finished tied for first and Kevin Foley (Somerville, N.J.) who wrapped up tied for fourth.
"Our performance at the NCAA Regional was our potential showing up at the exact right time," said Nye. "We convinced ourselves that we had the power to get it done. We went on the golf course that last round at Yale believing, and thinking, `why not us?' Yes, we did upset at least six teams to get through, but we never thought of ourselves as underdogs. When it was over and we had advanced these guys new they had just done something big and it was one exciting time for Penn State."
Penn State has earned its spot in the NCAA Final line-up after its 17th Regional appearance in the last 18 years under Nye. The trip to the Finals is the team's fourth emergence under Nye ('96, '04, '08, '10). Heading into the East Regional qualifier the Nittany Lions ranked 67th in the country and 11th among their field.
For updates on the Penn State men's golf team please visit GoPSUSports.com and for live scoring please visit GolfStat.com.
2010 NCAA Final Penn State Line-up
Sr. Kevin Foley (Somerville, N.J.)
Sr. Jim Markovitz (Bridgeville, Pa.)
Sr./RS T.J. Howe (Osceola, Pa.)
Jr. Tommy McDonagh (East Norwalk, Conn.)
Fr. Ernesto Marin (Miami, Fla.)