BATON ROUGE – The No. 8-ranked LSU men’s golf team learned Monday afternoon that its road to the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships will go through Blacksburg, Va., as it was selected as the No. 2 seed in the NCAA East Regional to be held May 19-21 at the Pete Dye River Course.
The programs in the 13-team field will be competing for one of five qualifying spots into the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships to follow May 31-June 5 at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla.
This marks the fourth year in a row that the Tigers will compete in NCAA Regional play, as they received a berth into the NCAA West Regional in 2008, the NCAA South Central Regional in 2009 and the NCAA Central Regional in 2010 en route to their first NCAA Championships appearance since 1997.
LSU advanced to the 2010 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships after earning a fifth-place finish during the NCAA Central Regional where they competed as part of a 14-team field a season ago.
The Tigers have enjoyed a tremendous 2010-11 campaign in which they have won four tournament titles, as well as a fifth-place finish at the 2011 SEC Men’s Golf Championships. LSU has won four tournament championships in a single season for the first time since 1988-89 including the Gopher Invitational, David Toms Intercollegiate, Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate and LSU National Invitational.
In fact, the Tigers have won at least three tournament titles in each of the last three seasons while winning 10 events in their last 35 tournament appearances since the start of the 2008-09 campaign.
“The challenge our guys have this week will be balancing final exams, while also preparing themselves to play well next weekend at regionals,” said LSU head coach Chuck Winstead. “We’re blessed with a great group of guys with experience that will do what is needed over the next week or so to prepare.”
This marks the third-straight season in which the NCAA will have six regional tournaments to determine its 30-team field that will tee off at the NCAA Championships. A total of 81 teams have been selected for NCAA Regional play this season with as many as 14 teams competing in each regional.
While LSU will compete at the Pete Dye River Course, Golden Ocala Golf Club (Ocala, Fla.), Wolf Run Golf Club (Zionsville, Ind.), Colorado National Golf Club (Erie, Colo.), Omni Tucson Nationals (Tucson, Ariz.) and The Farms Golf Club (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) will also serve as 2011 NCAA Regional sites.
The top five teams at each regional site will earn the right to tee it up in the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships being held at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla., from May 31-June 5.
Virginia Tech will play host to the NCAA East Regional as the No. 7 seed, while the Tigers will also play against the likes of No. 1 seed and No. 2-ranked Georgia Tech, No. 3 seed and No. 16-ranked Duke, No. 4 seed and No. 17-ranked Virginia and No. 5 seed and No. 24-ranked Oklahoma for one of five qualifying spots into this year’s NCAA Men’s Golf Championships tournament.
Also invited to compete as part of the 13-team field at the NCAA East Regional in order of seeding are No. 6 seed Kent State, No. 8 seed Ole Miss, No. 9 seed East Carolina, No. 10 seed UNC-Wilmington, No. 11 seed Coastal Carolina, No. 12 seed Lamar and No. 13 seed Yale.
COLORADO REGION
Colorado National Golf Club, Erie, Colo.; Hosted by University of Colorado-Boulder
Teams
1. Oklahoma State (Big 12 Conference)
2. Georgia
3. Auburn
4. Arizona State
5. Clemson
6. Chattanooga
7. TCU
8. North Florida
9. New Mexico State (Western Athletic Conference)
10. Northwestern
11. Colorado State
12. San Jose State
13. Denver (Sun Belt Conference)
Individuals
1. Michael Whitehead, Rice
2. Gabe Maier, Wyoming
3. Steven Lecuyer, Central Arkansas
4. Derek Plucienski, Southern Mississippi
5. Michael McGowan, North Carolina
6. Geoff Gonzalez, Cal Poly
7. Jarred Bossio, Idaho
8. Andrew Wyatt, Nebraska
9. Cody Schweinefus, Drake
10. C.G. Mercatoris, Robert Morris
SAN DIEGO REGION
The Farms Golf Club, San Diego, Calif.; Hosted by San Diego
Teams
1. UCLA
2. Texas
3. Southern California (Pac-10 Conference)
4. San Diego
5. Ohio State
6. UNLV
7. North Texas
8. Middle Tennessee
9. Tulsa
10. SMU
11. Pacific
12. San Francisco (West Coast Conference)
13. Cleveland State (Horizon League)
Individuals
1. Nick Delio, Cal State Northridge
2. Donald Constable, Minnesota
3. Travis Ross, New Mexico
4. Scott Smith, Nevada
5. Erik Van Rooyan, Minnesota
6. Bhavik Patel, Fresno State
7. Glen Scher, UC Santa Barbara
8. Jerry He, UC Irvine
9. Rick Lamb, Santa Clara
10. Donald DeNyse, Siena
INDIANA REGION
Wolf Run Golf Club, Zionsville, Ind.; Hosted by Indiana
Teams
1. Alabama
2. Illinois (Big Ten Conference)
3. Iowa
4. Stanford
5. Wake Forest
6. Tennessee
7. Indiana
8. Florida State
9. Michigan
10. Charlotte (Atlantic 10 Conference)
11. Memphis
12. Wichita State (Missouri Valley Conference)
13. UMKC (The Summit League)
14. Sacred Heart (Northeast Conference)
Individuals
1. Eric Steger, Ball State
2. Nathan Sutherland, Miami (Ohio)
3. Cameron Carrico, Murray State
4. Johan Ericksson, Eastern Kentucky
5. Michael Powell, Indiana/Purdue-Indianapolis
VIRGINIA TECH REGION
The Pete Dye River Course at Virginia Tech, Radford, Va.; Hosted by Virginia Tech
Teams
1. Georgia Tech (Atlantic Coast Conference)
2. LSU
3. Duke
4. Virginia
5. Oklahoma
6. Kent State (Mid-American Conference)
7. Virginia Tech
8. Mississippi
9. East Carolina
10. North Carolina-Wilmington (Colonial Athletic Association)
11. Coastal Carolina
12. Lamar
13. Yale (The Ivy League)
Individuals
1. TJ Howe, Penn State
2. John Popeck, Maryland
3. Jake Katz, Binghamton
4. Vaita Guillaume, Campbell
5. Adam Hoffman, Vanderbilt
6. Chandler Brazeal, Wofford
7. Matt Moot, Campbell
8. Richard Fountain, Davidson
9. Herbert Day, Xavier
10. Peter Williamson, Dartmouth
FLORIDA REGION:
Golden Ocala Golf Club, Ocala, Fla.; Hosted by Florida
Teams
1. Florida (Southeastern Conference)
2. Augusta State
3. Arkansas
4. Oregon
5. N.C. State
6. UCF (Conference USA)
7. Baylor
8. Kennesaw State (Atlantic Sun Conference)
9. Notre Dame (Big East Conference)
10. Missouri
11. Southeastern Louisiana
12. Jacksonville State (Ohio Valley Conference)
13. Georgia Southern (Southern Conference)
14. Jackson State (Southwestern Athletic Conference)
Individuals
1. Philipp Fendt, Louisiana-Layette
2. Jack Hiluta, South Alabama
3. Jacobo Pastor, Charleston Southern
4. Andrew Noto, Louisiana-Layette
5. Bradley Story, Alabama A&M
ARIZONA REGION:
Omni Tucson National Resort, Tucson, Ariz.; Hosted by Arizona
Teams
1. Texas A&M
2. San Diego State (Mountain West Conference)
3. Texas Tech
4. California
5. Liberty (Big South Conference)
6. Washington
7. Pepperdine
8. Oregon State
9. Purdue
10. UC-Davis (Big West Conference)
11. Arizona
12. Texas-Arlington (Southland Conference)
13. Loyola Maryland (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
14. Army (Patriot League)
Individuals
1. Zachary Blair, Brigham Young
2. Chris Gilbert, Kansas
3. Jason Shufflebottom, UAB
4. Gustaf Kocken, Louisiana-Monroe
5. Will Hogan, Missouri State