INDIANAPOLIS – For the second season in a row, the University of South Alabama men's golf program has earned an at-large bid to participate in an NCAA Regional.
The Jaguars learned Monday they will be seeded ninth among the 13 schools in the field of the NCAA Raleigh Regional, one of six that will be contested across the country beginning on Thursday, May 15. The top eight teams in the regional are among the top 50 nationally in the most recent Golfstat ratings.
"We have an older, more experience group, this is a credit to their commitment and their solid golf over the course of the last two seasons," observed Jag head coach Ben Hannan, who is guiding the program to a regional for the fourth time in his career.
The event, set to be contested at the Lonnie Poole Golf Course, will include — in seeding order — Georgia Tech, Washington, Florida State, Texas A&M, Mercer, Kentucky, Texas Tech, Wake Forest, USA, Memphis, Minnesota, Rice and Bethune-Cookman. Also competing will be the following 10 individuals: J.T. Poston (West Carolina), Evan Russell (Hartford), Franco Castro (UNC-Charlotte), Brandon Matthews (Temple), Richard Fountain (Davidson), Eric Brady (East Carolina), Andrew Dorn (Coastal Carolina), Ben Wheeler (Coastal Carolina), Sean Bosdosh (Maryland) and Zach Seabolt (Winthrop).
"I've never played the golf course — I've heard that it is difficult — so the first thing I will do is contact fellow coaching friends in the business who have played there and try to get a game plan put together, including areas to focus on for the next week as we prepare," Hannan explained. "Looking at the field, we've seen a lot of these teams this year and we've beaten some of them. We're obviously excited, and it's nice that the guys get to travel out of the Southeast; it's going to be a great trip, we're looking forward to it."
The top five schools, and the individual that finishes highest not on those teams, will move on to compete at the NCAA Championships. This year's event will be contest from May 23-28 at the Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.
USA placed in the top three at six of 12 tournaments this season, finishing at or below par as a squad on three occasions. The Jaguars' win at the Samford Intercollegiate the opening week of March was their first since April 2011, and they began postseason action with a second-place finish at the Sun Belt Conference Championship, shooting an 8-under-par 280 to fall one stroke shy of forcing a playoff.
Four Jags — seniors Lane Hulse and Blake Kelley, and juniors Michael Garretson and Tyler Klava — were a part of last year's squad that tied for sixth place at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Baton Rouge, La., as USA finished two strokes out of the top five. The Jaguars also were three shots out of the top five en route to placing seventh at the NCAA Southeast Regional in 2010.
"There is no question experience is very important, particularly in regionals where so many funny things can happen," said Hannan. "Being in the hunt all week last year, coming down the final stretch and missing it by so little, there will certainly be motivation for the guys and myself. If we're in that situation again, I think that [last year's experience] will be big for us."
This will be USA's eighth all-time NCAA Regional appearance, while it marks the first time since 1994 and '95 that the Jags have qualified for the event in consecutive seasons.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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