Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
NCAA Regionals
Men's Golf aims for NCAA Finals
5/19/2010 9:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
BREMERTON, Wash. - Seeking their second trip to the NCAA finals in three years, the Middle Tennessee men's golf team will play in Bremerton, Washington on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the 13-team NCAA Regional for the right to advance to the NCAA national championship in Chattanooga June 4-6
Three members of the 2008 team that finished 15th in the nation will lead the Blue Raiders in their efforts to duplicate or exceed their success of two years ago. Seniors Kent Bulle and Craig Smith, and junior Jason Millard were all members of that team, although Smith missed playing because of a back injury.
"This team is as well-rounded as any I've had from top to bottom," declared Middle Tennessee head coach Whit Turnbow. "Every one of them has played well in spurts. Kent, Craig, Jason and Hunter (Green) have all been the low man at least once. And freshman Brad Simons has a couple of Top Ten finishes this season.
"We are five-deep, and each of them has shot at least a 68 in a tournament this year. This will be a huge key for us. If every one of them is playing well, we should advance. But all of the teams at this point are deep."
Bulle, an all-conference performer, leads the team with a 72.1 stroke average, and two tournament wins. Millard is second with 72.3, followed by Green at 72.8, Smith at 73.9 and Simons at 74.2. Millard and Green also have tournament wins and joined Bulle on the all-conference team this season. Individually, the Blue Raiders have shot a total of 43 rounds under par.
Joining Middle Tennessee and host Washington will be USC, Illinois, Oregon State, San Diego, Colorado State, SMU, New Mexico, Fresno State, Eastern Michigan, VCU and Loyola-Maryland. Washington, USC, and Illinois are the top three seeds, and the 7th-seeded Blue Raiders have already played all three. Middle Tennessee lost to Washington in a close 3-2 match in the Callaway Match Play tournament in April.
The Washington Regional will be played on the Gold Mountain Golf Club course, a challenging course with a 621-yard final hole that is surrounded by bunkers. Each team will play 18 holes each day. The top five teams will advance to the NCAA finals.
Thursday's pairings will have Middle Tennessee grouped with #8 seed SMU and #9 seed New Mexico. Individual tee-off times will be from 10:50 am until 11:30 am. Pairings and tee times for Friday and Saturday will be based on the previous day's scores.
The tournament will be online on Golfstat.com all three days. Coach Turnbow will also be sending updates via twitter during each round.
THREE ADVANCE IN QUALIFYING FOR US OPEN: Middle Tennessee will be represented by three golfers in the second round of U.S Open qualifying in June. Assistant Coach Chas Narramore, and a member of the 2008 NCAA team, made it through to the sectionals by shooting a 67 at Holston Hills in Knoxville last week. In a four-way playoff for three spots, he birdied the second hole to advance to the sectional in Memphis on June 7th. Current players Jason Millard and Kent Bulle also earned a spot in the sectionals by shooting 69 and 72, respectively, in local qualifying at Lexington, KY on Monday. They will play in the sectional at Ridgeway Country Club and Germantown Country Club the week of the St. Jude Classic with other PGA Tour players.
SUN BELT STRONGER: Turnbow points out that the Sun Belt Conference is getting stronger by the year, and has the facts to prove it. "Five years ago, it was a one-bid league. This year we had two teams go, as we did in 2008. We also got seven individuals from other teams into the tournament this year, and we have never done that before. It just shows how strong the league is becoming, and how much improvement has been made. I'd like to think that we had something to do with it. It's nice to see that. I am always rooting for the guys in our league, especially at this level."
