May 13, 2009

Live Scoring | Tournament Notes in PDF Format

Tournament Central

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina men’s golf team, ranked 10th in the latest GolfWeek ratings, are preparing for this week’s NCAA Southeast Regional, which will be contested Thursday through Saturday at Red Tail Golf Club in Sorrento, Fla., just outside of Orlando. The top five teams and one individual will advance from this and each of the other five regionals to the NCAA Championship, which runs May 26-30 in Toledo, Ohio.

The Gamecocks aim to atone for a disappointing finish at last year’s regional in Chattanooga, Tenn., where they finished 16th out of 27 teams, missing the NCAA Championship. It will be the 19th NCAA Regional appearance in school history and the 14th in a row, dating back to the 1996 season. South Carolina will be looking for their third trip to the NCAA Championship in four years.

South Carolina’s five competitors in the NCAA Regional will be the same lineup that turned in a fourth-place finish at the SEC Championship and captured the team title at the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational in mid-March. Junior George Bryan IV, senior Mark Silvers III, freshman Wesley Bryan, junior Patrick Rada and freshman Sam Braver will represent the Gamecocks in Florida. It will be the third regional appearance for both George Bryan IV and Silvers while Wesley Bryan, Rada and Braver will all be making their initial appearance in NCAA competition. Silvers tied for 47th and George Bryan was tied for 113th at the 2008 regional, and George Bryan tied for 10th and Silvers tied for 43rd at the 2007 regional in Tempe, Ariz., as the Gamecocks advanced to that year’s NCAA Championship.

There is some familiarity between the Gamecocks and the rest of this week’s field. The Gamecocks have faced 11 of the other 13 teams in the regional field in various tournaments this season, compiling a 19-9 overall record against those opponents. The Gamecocks have a .500 or better record against nine of those 11 teams – Augusta State, Charlotte, Florida State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and UCF. The only two teams to hold an advantage over South Carolina are Arizona and top-ranked Georgia. The Gamecocks have not faced Campbell or Loyola (MD) this season.

Tee times for the first round are set, and South Carolina will be paired with Georgia and Indiana on Thursday morning, beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Hole No. 1. Pairings for the final two rounds will be based on scores. Live scoring will be available through golfstat.com.