Men's Golf Opens NCAA Regional Play Thursday
May 13, 2015 | Men's Golf
Tournament Central | Live Scoring | 
Interviews
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- Following a Wednesday practice round at The Sagamore Club, the East Carolina men's golf team is ready to begin competition at the NCAA Noblesville Regional, which tees off Thursday morning.
The Pirates enter the event at the field's No. 11 seed and will be making their third NCAA regional appearance in the last five years and fourth overall. ECU will be seeking to earn its first trip to the NCAA Championships finals since 2012.
"We want advancing from the regional to be a regular thing," head coach Press McPhaul added. "That's our goal for the program to have it in a place where it can advance from the regional annually. This is a step along the way and I think we're making some progress."
Big Ten Champion Illinois is the top seed in the 14-team regional field, followed by Oregon, UCLA, Alabama, SMU, UNLV, Virginia Tech, Georgia Southern, Colorado, New Mexico State, Marquette, Alabama State and Pennsylvania round out the field in Noblesville.
In addition to the 14 teams, five individuals will take to the links in Indiana looking to advance to the NCAA Championships. The five are Chris Selfridge of Toledo, Jose Montano of Xavier, Evan Browser of Oakland, Jose Pablo Segurola of IUPUI and Johnny Watts of Ball State.
The tournament will consist of 54 holes of stroke play on the par-72, 7,173-yard layout, with 18 holes each day. The top five teams in the regional advance to the NCAA Championship, scheduled for May 29-June 3 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.
"Sagamore is a beautiful course and it is in proper condition for a championship," McPhaul stated. "It will reward teams that pick smart shots and execute them well and hole putts."
Leading the Pirate contingency at the event will be juniors Wes Conover, Al Dickens and George Kilgore. Conover, an all-American Athletic Conference player, holds a 72.25 scoring average on the season with six top-10 finishes in 11 events this year. Dickens and Kilgore have each recorded two top-10 finishes during the season with Kilgore claiming medalist honors at the Rod Myers Invitational at the Duke Golf Club.
"Now that we're in, the pressure is off," Conover said. "All we have to do is go and try to make as many birdies as we can and try to make it nationals. We've got nothing to lose, so we'll go and do the best we can and see what happens."
Also competing at the regional will be redshirt freshman Jackson Spires and true freshman Tim Conover.
The Pirates will be paired with New Mexico State and Marquette during Thursday's opening round. The group is scheduled to tee off from No. 10 beginning at 9:15 a.m. (EDT).
Players Mentioned
