Six PBC Golf Teams Advance to NCAA Regional Tournament
INDIANAPOLIS, IND – Six Peach Belt Conference golf teams
and one individual learned that they will have the opportunity to
compete for a national championship as the NCAA released the
80-team field. Peach Belt teams took six of the 10 team spots
available in the Southeast Regional tournament which will be played
May 4-6 at the Robert Trent Jones of the Shoals course in Florence,
Ala.
Columbus State is the top-seeded team in the region while GCSU was
second and Clayton State third. USC Aiken is the #4 seed while
Lander is #5 and Armstrong Atlantic State #10. UNC Pembroke’s
Jordan Walor received an individual invitation to play. The
University of North Alabama will host the regional.
The top five teams and top two individuals not with a team from
each regional will advance to the National Championship May 19-22
at Loomis Trail Golf Club in Blaine, Wash., and hosted by Western
Washington.
Columbus State is currently the #1-ranked team in the nation. The
Cougars, winners of six national championships, were NCAA
runners-up in 2006 and finished fourth in 2007. The Cougars have
won three tournaments this season and have back-to-back
second-place finishes at the Bobcat Invitational and the PBC
Championships heading into the NCAA Regional. Andrew Georgiou leads
the team and is ranked second in the Peach Belt with a 71.6 stroke
average. CSU has the lowest team stroke average in the league at
289.0.
Georgia College will defend its 2008 Southeast Region
Championship, and junior Niclas Johansson will also defend
individual honors. Four of the starters from last year’s
squad return, including Johansson’s fellow All-America
teammate, sophomore Joe Young. Classmate Billy Shida and junior
Francisco Bide round out the four returning starters. Junior Pedro
C. Lima led GCSU at its most recent tournament, helping the Bobcats
take third at the PBC Championships.
Clayton State reaches the NCAA Tournament after winning the
program’s first-ever PBC Championship last week in Carthage,
N.C. The Lakers made a signature comeback on the final nine holes,
turning in eight birdies to come from five strokes back. Clayton
State’s Wade Binfield won his first tournament of the season
at the PBC Championship and will be counted on as the team moves
into the NCAAs. Senior All-American Will Wilcox leads the PBC with
a 70.8 stroke average, the lowest season average in PBC history.
Clayton State as a team had one win and two runner-ups before
winning the PBC.
Ranked fifth in NCAA Division II in the latest Nike Golf/Golf
World NCAA Division II Top 25, USC Aiken has claimed four regular
season tournaments in the 2008-09 season.
The Pacers have won two tournaments each during the fall and
spring, including a pair of Division I-dominated events. The Pacers
opened their spring campaign by taking top honors as a team at both
the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate hosted by Francis Marion and
the 12th Annual Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate. USC Aiken
has been paced all season by All-Peach Belt Conference performers
Roberto Diaz (Veracruz, Mexico) and J.P. Solis (Morelia, Mexico).
USCA won the national championship in 2004, ’05 and
’06.
Lander, ranked 13th in the nation, has won twice in 2008-09;
taking the Queens Invitational last fall and the AASU/Southbridge
Pirate Invitational this spring. Under the guidance of PBC Coach of
the Year Chipper Bagwell, the Bearcats will make their third
straight appearance in the NCAA Regional since restarting the
program in 2006. Lander finished second at the regional in 2007 and
reached the national finals, where they finished 14th.
Head coach Michael Butler has led Armstrong Atlantic State to a
berth in the NCAA Championships each season since 2002, just one
year after the men's golf program was reinstated at AASU. The
Pirates reached the national finals in 2004 and finished second in
the nation in 2005.
UNC Pembroke freshman Jordan Walor was named to the regional field
as an individual. Walor was named the 2009 PBC Freshman of the Year
and finished second at the PBC Championships after shooting
69-72-70.
The Peach Belt Conference is home to seven golf national
championships.