BATON ROUGE — The 29th-ranked LSU men’s golf team will join 26 teams in Williamsburg, Va., for the 2001 NCAA East Regional May 17-19, the NCAA announced via teleconference Tuesday afternoon.
The teams will play at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, a par-72 course with a yardage of 7,210. The East Regional will consist of 54 holes, with 18 to be played each of the three days. The Tigers are one of 81 teams participating in the tournament. The NCAA tournament includes three regions; the East, Central, and the West. The Central Regional will be held in Stillwater, Okla., and the West Regional will be held in Corvallis, Ore.
The Central host is Oklahoma State, and the West host is Oregon State University.
The Tigers will join a very talented field in Virginia. The current top three teams in the nation, according to the MasterCard rankings will take part in the East Regional. They are number one Georgia, second-ranked Georgia Tech, and number three Clemson. Five other teams ranked in the top 25 will be compete as well.
The Tigers are making their first post-season appearance under Greg Jones, who is in his second year as LSU head coach. The Tigers played in the 1998 East Regional in South Carolina, but did not make the field for the NCAA Championships. Jones led the Tigers to three tournaments wins this season, and a national ranking as high as number 14 in March. The Tigers were ranked in the nation’s top for five straight weeks, from March 7 to April 4. The three tournament victories is the most for LSU since they won three in the 1995-96 season.
“We are real excited about going to the Regional, we are looking forward to getting final exams over with and getting there,” said Jones. “I think we will play well, but I always think that, because I am the ultimate optimist. The East is loaded, the whole field is great, and we just want to play good golf and try to get to the Championships. I did not care what region we would be sent to, I am just happy that we are going. It has been a great season, and this is a nice reward for our team.”
The Tigers will go with a lineup of seniors Alan Morgan, Billy Dressler, and Craig Taylor, as well as junior Nathan Goulding, and sophomore John Humphries. The Tigers will count on Morgan to lead them in Virginia. Morgan was named to the All-SEC First Team Monday, the second straight year he has been named to the team. Morgan was a Second Team selection in 2000. Morgan
leads the Tigers in virtually every statistical category this season. The senior from Lake Charles has played in all 12 of LSU’s tournaments, posting 25 rounds of par or better, seven top-10 finishes, and a team-low stroke average of 71.3. He has also won two individual titles, at the Tennessee Tournament of Champions in September, and the Country Club of Louisiana Intercollegiate in October in Baton Rouge.
Humphries was named to the All-SEC Second Team, and the 2001 Academic Honor Roll for his outstanding work in the classroom. The lineup the Tigers will send to Williamsburg has combined for 13 top-10 finishes this season.
Morgan was a participant at the East Regional last season in Moosic, Pa., as an individual for LSU.
Four SEC teams will join LSU in the East. Top-ranked Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss, and Florida will battle the Tigers. In LSU’s last NCAA appearance, in 1998, the Tigers finished 15th.
The top 10 teams from each Regional site will advance to the NCAA Championships, held May 30-June 2 in Durham, N.C., hosted by Duke University. Six Individuals, whose teams do not qualify to go to Duke, will also compete in the Championships.
EAST REGIONAL- Williamsburg, Va. (Virginia Commonwealth Host)
Rhode Island, Hartford, Yale, Penn State, Richmond, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Georgia Tech, Clemson, North Carolina State, East Tennessee State, Virginia Tech, Duke, Florida, Auburn, Ole Miss, LSU, UAB, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Virginia Commonwealth, Charleston Southern, Xavier, Princeton, Iona, Maryland-Baltimore County.
CENTRAL REGIONAL- Stillwater, Okla. (Oklahoma State University Host)
Northwestern, Minnesota, Kent State, Purdue, Ohio State, Toledo, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Tulsa, Wichita State, Arkansas State, Texas, TCU, Houston, SMU, Baylor, Arkansas-Little Rock, Louisiana-Lafayette, Texas A&M, Augusta State, College of Charelston, Lamar, North Carolina, Jackson State, North Florida.
WEST REGIONAL — Corvallis, Ore. (Oregon State University Host)
New Mexico, BYU, San Diego State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada-Reno, Arizona State, USC, Arizona, UNLV, Oregon, Pepperdine, Washington, California, UCLA, Stanford, Oregon State, Pacific, South Carolina, Wake Forest, Tennessee, California-Irvine, Austin Peay, Oral Roberts, Weber State, Detroit, Navy.