May 25, 2007

South Carolina will look the carry the momentum from its NCAA West Regional title to the NCAA Championship, May 30-June 2, in Williamsburg, Va. The 72-hole stroke-play event begins on Wednesday, May 30, at the Golden Horseshoe Gold Club’s Gold Course. The 30-team field will be cut in half after three rounds and the fourth and final round will be played on Saturday, June 2. This the 110th annual NCAA Men’s Golf Championship and is hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University.

The top 10 teams from each of three Regionals and the top two individuals not on those teams advanced to the championship final. The Gamecocks are the No. 16 seed. Following practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday, South Carolina will tee off in the opening round at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament online at www.golfstat.com or by following the links from South Carolina’s official athletics web site at USCsports.com.

TICKET INFORMATION
A complete tournament pass ($30) is available, or tickets can be purchased for each individual round ($10 each for rounds one, two and three, $12 for the final round). Tickets can be purchased online at VCUAthletics.com or by calling 804-828-7267.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE GAMECOCKS
South Carolina’s five-man lineup will feature freshman George Bryan IV, sophomore Florian Fritsch, junior Warren Thomas, junior Mark Anderson and sophomore Mark Silvers. The Gamecocks are listed at No. 31 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (May 20) and are No. 30 in the most recent Golf Stat rankings (May 23). In addition to its NCAA West Regional Championship, Carolina has posted three top-four finishes this season and played the nation’s No. 6 schedule, according to Golfweek.

THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD
The top 10 teams in each of three regionals, as well as the top two individuals not on those teams, advanced to the NCAA Championship. In the West Regional played at Arizona State’s Karsten Course, team champion South Carolina was joined by UCLA, Arizona State, Southern California, Vanderbilt, Arizona, Stanford, New Mexico, Wake Forest and East Tennessee State in the top 10. Team champion Georgia, along with Florida, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Duke, Charlotte, North Carolina, Georgia State and Charlotte advanced out of the NCAA East Regional, played at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta. In the Central Regional, played at Richard Harvest Farms Golf Course in Sugar Grove, Ill. , Tulsa took home the team title and was joined by Alabama, Louisville, Lamar, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Michigan State, Texas and Minnesota in the top 10.

NCAA HISTORY
>> Since the inception of the NCAA Regional format in 1989, South Carolina has advanced to the finals 11 times. After a two-year hiatus in 2004 and 2005, the Gamecocks have moved on to the NCAA Championship in each of the last two years.

>> In 2006, the Gamecocks were the No. 27 seed in the NCAA Championship, played in Sunriver, Ore. Carolina did not make the 15-team cut after three rounds and tied for 22nd.

>> Juniors Mark Anderson and Warren Thomas and sophomore Florian Fritsch were all three in the Gamecock lineup at NCAAs in 2006. Fritsch posted a three-round total of 216, Anderson shot 227 and Thomas finished at 231.

>> South Carolina will look to make the cut for the first time since 1998 when it tied for 11th at the NCAA Championship in Albuquerque, N.M.

>> At the 1998 NCAA Championship, South Carolina associate head coach Bill McDonald, competing for Georgia Tech, tied for second individually. As a team the Yellow Jackets were seventh.

>> McDonald also played in the 1985, 1986 and 1987 Championship at Georgia Tech.

>> The Gamecocks’ best team finish at the NCAA Championship came in 1988 when they tied for eighth in Thousand Oaks, Calif.