University of North Florida
at NCAA Championships
No. 22/21 UNF Ready for NCAA Championships
5/31/2010 3:56:35 PM | Men's Golf
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of North Florida golf team is set for the 2010 Division I NCAA Men's Golf Championships, June 1-6 at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn. UNF will tee off on Tuesday, June 1 at 7:47 a.m. on the first tee.
The Honors Course is a par-72, 7,260 yard course created in 1983 to honor the game of amateur golf. All rounds can be followed on Golfstat.com. The second and final rounds of medal play will be available on webcasting on Wednesday and Thursday. Cameras will be posted on holes 16, 17 and 18 to capture the action on NCAA.com.
The championship consists of 54 holes of medal play followed by three rounds of match play. All 30 teams and six individuals will compete for 54 holes of medal play, 18 per day, to determine the individual medalist. The top eight teams then qualify for match play. The teams will be seeded by their order of finish in medal play and will square off in a single-elimination bracket, playing one round of match play each day to determine team champion, June 4-6.
UNF enters the national championship ranked 22nd in the Golfstat Index and 21st in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings. Individually for the Ospreys, sophomore Sean Dale is 13th in the Golfstat Index and 21st in the Golfweek/Sagarin standings while freshman Kevin Phelan is 96th and 102nd, respectively.
The Ospreys finished fourth at the NCAA South Central Region to advance. UNF was third after the first round, but struggled in the second, dropping to sixth. The Ospreys came back strong in the third round, shooting the lowest round of the day to finish with a 5-under, 859 (280-298-281) and advance to the national championships.
Joining Dale and Phelan on the course for the Ospreys this week are sophomore Joe Byun and seniors J.C. Horne and Jordan Gibb.
Phelan finished tied for second at the NCAA South Central regional with a 208 (66-72-70). He has had team leading 17 sub-par rounds this season, including a season low 66 at the NCAA regionals. Phelan has finished in the top-10 eight times this season. He earned Atlantic Sun Golfer of the Month in March after recording four top-10 finishes during the month.
Dale placed 10th in the regional round, scoring a 213 (71-73-69). He has had 14 sub-par rounds this season with a season low 66 coming at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate where he claimed the top individual finish at the tournament. Dale has finished in the top-10 six times this season. He claimed Atlantic Sun Golf of the Month in September.
Byun tied for 28th at regionals with a 220 (71-78-71). He has had eight sub-par rounds this season and shot a season best 69 at the John Hayt Invitational, the BancorpSouth Intercollegiate and the Golden Ocala Invitational. Byun claimed the individual title at the John Hayt Invitational hosted by UNF at Sawgrass Country Club.
Horne tied for 23rd at the NCAA regionals with a 219 (73-75-71). He has tallied nine sub-par rounds this season and shot a season best 68 at the BancorpSouth Intercollegiate, tying for fourth and helping the Ospreys to rally to win the tournament title.
Gibb scored a 225 (72-81-72) at NCAA regionals to tie for 43rd. He closed out the regular season strong, recording three top-5 finishes over the final four tournaments of the season including a first place finish at the Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational. Gibb shot a season low 69 at the BancorpSouth Intercollegiate to tie with Horne for fourth. He led the team with a fourth place finish at the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships.
This is UNF's second appearance at the NCAA Division I National Championships. The Ospreys last appeared in 2000 when they finished 27th.
Also competing at the NCAA National Championships are Oregon, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Washington, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, USC, Augusta State, Florida State, Clemson, UCLA, Florida, Georgia Tech, UNLV, Kent State, TCU, San Diego, California, Arizona State, Oregon State, Duke, Tennessee, Penn State, Virginia, Illinois, LSU, Baylor, Georgia Southern.
Full coverage of the event can be found at the tournament website by clicking here.
