April 30, 2008
PENSACOLA, Fla. - Fresh off the Gulf South Conference championship, and five tournament wins in the last nine tournaments, the #1 ranked UWF Men's Golf team prepares for post season play as the team that everyone is chasing. Eighty teams and 50 individuals have been selected to participate in the 2008 NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships, which begin with five super regionals early next week. West Florida, with three straight GSC Championships, leads the way as the No. 1 seed in the South Regional.
The Gulf South Conference earned three teams in the eight-team 2008 NCAA Division II Men's Golf South Regional which will be held from May 5-7 at the Grey Rock Golf Club in Austin, Texas. The two other GSC schools that were selected to participate in the regional, included Valdosta State as the No.4 seed and North Alabama the No. 8 seed. The South region and the South Central region will compete together in the South/South Central super regional.
Head Coach Steve Fell discussed the upcoming regionals, "I don't know much about the Grey Rock Golf Club in Austin, other than I've heard it's a little corky with some holes that take a lot of home course knowledge to play well, so during our practice round we'll spend a lot of time on course management, and a game plan for those particular holes." Fell also commented on how the team is getting ready, "this week is final exams so we've been trying to get in a hour here and an hour there of practice, so hopefully that won't hurt us too much."
The South/South Central Super Regional is being hosted by St. Edward's University. The South Region teams include UWF (Gulf South Conference Champions) and the following teams: Florida Southern (Sunshine State Conference Champions), Nova Southeastern, Valdosta State, Barry, Lynn, Florida Tech, and North Alabama. The Gulf South Conference accounted for four of the five individual at-large berths led by Henderson State's Jack Bartlett (No. 1), West Georgia's Brandon Bennett (No. 2), Arkansas Tech's Jarred Carlyle (No. 3) and HSU's Ben Cuzen (No. 4). Meanwhile, Matt Cornuet of Saint Leo was the fifth individual qualifier.
The South Central Regional teams include; Central Oklahoma, #7 St. Edward's (Heartland Conference champions), Abilene Christian, Cameron (Lone Star Conference champions), Northeastern State, Southwestern Oklahoma State, Southeastern Oklahoma State, and St. Mary's from San Antonio, Texas.
Coach Steve Fell discussed the field, "in our region (South Region) there are five teams ranked in the top-10 in the nation, plus the defending national champions (Barry). So we have our work cut out for us, because at least one of the top-10 in the nation will not advance to the National Championship." With West Florida ranked #1, Florida Southern #4, Nova Southeastern #5, Valdosta State #8, and Lynn #10, that comprises half of the top 10 teams in the country in one regional. Meanwhile, in the other region (South Central), the host school, St. Edward's is ranked #7. With six top ranked teams in the super regional, and spots for only five teams to advance from the super regional, it is a guarantee that one top-10 school will not make the NCAA Championships.
The super regionals will be played on May 5-7. The sites are pre-determined and the NCAA selected the teams to participate based on conference tournaments and head to head scores of regional teams competing against each other in various tournaments. Conference automatic qualifiers and several at-large teams. The five super regional tournaments encompass the current ten regions.
The top team from each region within the super regional and the top individual not with a team from each super regional (regardless of region) will advance to the finals May 14-17 at the Division II Spring National Championships Festival in Houston, Texas. The finals will be hosted by Rice University and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority. Ten additional teams will earn berths to the finals. These teams will be determined based on the previous three-year average of top-10 finishes of a super regional at the finals. For the 2008 championships, the additional super regionals will include three teams from the South/South Central Region, for a maximum of five teams to advance.
The Argos ran away with the GSC title last week in Hot Springs, Ark., by out-shooting North Alabama by 14 strokes, and placed three golfers in the top five individually, including tournament champion Tobias Rosendahl (Fr / Haljarp, Sweden). Rosendahl shot a five under par 67 during the third round to pass teammate Kyle Scott, who had led after the second round. Valdosta State's Brent Witcher, and North Alabama's Daniel Creel also carded 67's in the final round, and tied UWF's Kyle Scott (Fr / Edenvale, South Africa) for second place with a 213 (-3) score. Meanwhile, West Florida's Matthew Galloway (Sr / Valrico, Fla.) finished fifth with an even par 216.
West Florida also placed two other golfers in the top 20 in the conference meet. Senior Federico Damus (Posadas, Argentina) turned in a very consistent 72-73-73 for a two over par 218, which was tied for 11th best. Meanwhile, Freshman Otto Bonning (Skanor, Sweden) turned in a 75-78-70 for a total of 223 on the 6,690 yard par 72 course. Bonning's score tied him for 18th best.
Head Coach Steve Fell was excited about the championship, which was his ninth title in his 14 years as UWF head coach. "It was another solid performance by the team with three players finishing in the top-five." In regards to Rosendahl's outstanding performance, Fell stated, "Tobias continued his great season with his second tournament victory and his ninth top-10 finish of the season. In my opinion he has to be the front runner for the Jack Nicklaus Division player of the Year award."
Tobias Rosendahl played in nine tournaments this season with a scoring average of 71.38. In addition to his GSC title, he captured a tournament victory at the Bobcat Invitational 70-71-71 (212). Rosendahl is currently is ranked #16 on the Golfstat Cup rankings for all NCAA Divisions and third in Division II, and finished second at The McLaughlin 69-70-66 (205) earlier this year hosted by St. John's. He finished fifth at the Aflac/Cougar Invitational 69-70-75 (214), and finished tied for 8th at the NSU Sharks Invitational 71-77-74 (222). He also finished in the top 10 at the Matlock Collegiate Classic 75-72-73 (220), and finished third at the Argonaut Invitational 66-74-71 (211). He had a second place finish at the Samford Intercollegiate 74-71-65 (210), and finished fifth at the Southeastern Collegiate 72-74-72 (218).
Kyle Scott played in 10 tournaments this season with a scoring average of 72.17. He had seven top-10 finishes including two tournament victories at The McLaughlin 67-65-68 (200) and the Emerald Coast Collegiate 66-70-70 (206). Scott is currently is ranked #50 in the Golfstat Cup rankings for all NCAA Divisions and eighth in Division II. He finished sixth at the Aflac/Cougar Invitational 71-73-71 (215), and finished tied for 8th at the NSU Sharks Invitational 72-75-75 (222). He had two other top 10 finishes, with a fifth place at the Matlock Collegiate Classic 73-75-68 (216), while he tied for 7th at the Argonaut Invitational 71-71-72 (214).
Matthew Galloway played in 10 tournaments this season with a 72.83 scoring average. He had six top-10 finishes including one tournament victory at the Matlock Collegiate Classic 67-73-70 (210). He is currently ranked #121 on the Golfstat Cup for all NCAA Divisions and 17th in Divisions II, and was a 2007 Commissioner's Trophy top-eight nominate. Galloway also was a 2007 All-GSC First Team selection, as well as a 2007 Academic All-GSC selection. He finished seventh at the NSU Sharks Invitational 73-72-76 (221), 10th at the Southeastern Collegiate 74-75-73 (222), and finished eighth at the Bobcat Invitational 69-76-75 (220). He also posted an outstanding four under par, which was good for third at the Emerald Coast Collegiate with a 69-73-70 (212).
Otto Bonning played in six tournaments this season with a 73.89 scoring average. He had three top-10 finishes, including a season-high second place finish at the Argonaut Invitational 69-70-70 (209). Bonning is currently ranked #228 on the Golfstat Cup for all NCAA Divisions and 27th in Division II, and finished tied for 7th at the Southeastern Collegiate 71-75-75 (221), while finishing tied for 5th at the Bobcat Invitational 75-70-74 (219).
Federico Damus turned in a stellar top 20 finish in the Gulf South Conference championships, and the senior adds great depth to the team going into post season. Earlier this year, Damus finished tied for 9th atThe McLaughlin carding rounds of 72-70-69=211 (+1). He was a 2007 Division II PING All-American - 3RD Team selection, and a 2007 Division II PING All-South Region Team selection, along with a 2007 All-GSC - First Team selection.
The Argos are looking for their second national championship, as they took home the honor in 2001. Meanwhile,Barry University won its first men's golf title in school history at the 2007 championships at The Meadows in Grand Rapids, Michigan, hosted by Grand Valley State University. The Buccaneers finished with a one-stroke advantage over the 20-team field while Columbus State University's Christian Reis won the individual title with a closing round even-par 71 to finish at 285 (+1) for the tournament.
For more information about the championships, log on to www.NCAA.com. Highlights of the NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships will be shown on CBS at 2 p.m. Eastern time, Sunday, June 22. The CBS seasonal show will feature highlights of 17 different NCAA championships that took place during the spring.