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NEWS AND NOTES
2005 NCAA DII Men's Golf Championships
Rain continued to plague the 2005 NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Champinships on Wednesday as a two and a half-hour rain delay prevented the second round from being completed. Darkness halted play at 8:11 p.m. with 19 of the 20 afternoon threesomes still out on the course ... The only group to finish its round in the afternoon consisted of Jason Fober (Armstrong Atlantic), Kevin Starr (Cal State Bakersfield) and Sebastian Salem (Lynn), who played the course in a time of 4:12 ... Brad Conner of North Alabama may have had the round of the day despite shooting a five-over-par 76. The individual player carded a 14 on the par-five hole 7, but played the other 17 holes in a four-under-par fashion ... There are three left-handed golfers in the field of 105 players this week - John Tillery of GC&SU, Andy Moren of Cal State Stanislaus and Andrew Pranger of Rollins ... The delays in the first two days of the Championships make this the most-delayed DII men’s championship since the 2001 tournament in Grand Valley State, Mich. ... The GCAA released its all-region teams on Wednesday. The GCAA Region Coaches of the Year, all eight of whom have their teams in Savannah this week, were: Northeast - Archie Boulet, Bryant; East - Fred Joseph, Indiana (Pa.); Atlantic - Jim Haughey, Pfeiffer; Southeast - Michael Butler, Armstrong Atlantic; South - Kyle Frakes, Rollins; South Central - Dax Johnston, Central Oklahoma; Great Lakes - Darryl Landrum, Northern Kentucky; Central - Doug Hamilton, Washburn; Northwest - Mike Zinni, Minnesota State-Mankato; West - Steve Card, Western Washington ... The GCAA also named its All-Freshman Team for 2005, and three of those players are here as well - Graham Hill of Indiana (Pa.), Andy Moren of Cal State Stanislaus and Casey Thompson of USC Aiken ... Moren made the only eagle of the day on Wednesday, carding a three on the par-five, 530-yard hole No. 4 ... The par-four 412-yard hole No. 6 has clearly been the most difficult hole of the week so far, playing +0.52 to par in the first round and +0.72 so far during the second round.
2005 NCAA DII Men's Golf Championships
A historic day for the City of Savannah and the NCAA turned into a wet one as lightning and thunderstorms halted play in the middle of round one of the 2005 NCAA DII Men’s Golf Championships on Tuesday ... As a result, 12 of the 20 teams completed their first rounds, but eight teams and all five individual competitors did not finish ... Round one play will resume at 6:45 a.m. on Tuesday, while Round Two tee times have been pushed back by an hour and 45 minutes ... Before the thunderstorms, calm conditions kept scores down enough that eight of the 12 teams that finished their rounds on Tuesday are within seven strokes of the lead ... Northern Kentucky’s first-round 287 places them in fine position to improve on their previous best NCAA finish. In four previous appearances, the best finish fashioned by the Norse was 11th place in 1995 ... This is the first NCAA DII Men’s Golf Championships with a par of 71 since the 1988 championship hosted by Truman ... Should either Columbus State, GC&SU or host Armstrong Atlantic capture the title this season, it would be the first time in NCAA DII history that three different schools from the same conference woud win titles in three straight seasons ... One of the key holes of the Club at Savannah Harbor is the par-4 14th hole. At 318 yards, players have been tempted to try and reach it off the tee, and two players who succeeded in getting there were Jeremiah Nelson of Washburn and Brice Garnett of Missouri Western State, who each carded eagle-twos on the hole. Garnett is currently the leader at four-under, while Nelson’s three-under 68 is the clubhouse leader, along with Blake Slaughter of St. Edward’s ... No NCAA DII Men’s Golf Championship has lost a round of play due to weather since 1975 ... Armstrong Atlantic’s Ashley Loyd carded a 32 on the back nine en route to a one-under-par 71 on Tuesday.
2005 NCAA DII Men's Golf Championships
Today marks a historic debut for the Savannah and Coastal Empire area as
the first NCAA National Championship event ever hosted by the community
begins ... Host Armstrong Atlantic is trying to become the first host
institution to win the men’s golf title since Rollins won the crown in
2002 ... Rollins won the DII women’s title on Saturday by 35 strokes over
Grand Valley State ... Minnesota State Mankato is the team happiest to
journey to the Coastal Empire area this week - when they flew out from
Minnesota on Sunday, temperatures were in the mid-30s ... The top six
teams in the latest GCAA/Bridgestone Top 25 Coaches’ Poll are in the field
this week, as well as 12 of the top 30 teams ... Eight of the top
10-ranked individual players in DII men’s golf, according to the Golfstat
Cup individual rankings, are in the field as well ... Four teams are
making their DII Men’s Golf Championships debut this week - Lynn, Hawaii
Hilo, St. Edward’s and St. Martin’s ... A couple of other schools are in
after extended absences. Delta State makes its first appearance since 1976
and Minnesota State Mankato is in for the first time since 1984 ... Three
past champions are in the field - Columbus State (1978, 1980, 1989, 1992,
1994, 1997), Rollins (1974, 2002) and last year’s champion, USC Aiken
(2004) ... This is the third time the NCAA DII Men’s Golf Championship has
been held in the state of Georgia - Columbus (1987) and Valdosta (1999)
have also hosted the Championship ... Monday’s practice round brought out
plenty of spectators, including an early morning visit on Hole 2 by an
alligator. Please do not feed our animal spectators this week ! ...
Several teams had to scramble on the final day of regional qualifying to
make it to Savannah. Cal State Bakersfield trailed by double digits on the
back nine of the West Regional, but fired a 297 to catch Cal State
Stanislaus and edge them by two strokes ... Columbus State shot a 305 in
the final day of the Southeast Regional and sat in the clubhouse, waiting
to see if they would qualify. Belmont Abbey shot 315 and fell behind the
Cougars, giving CSU its 27th appearance in the DII Championships ...
Pfeiffer started the final day of the Atlantic regional in fourth place,
but rallied to win by nine strokes.
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