May 20, 2006
ORLANDO, Fla.---- The Auburn men's golf team qualified for the NCAA Championship finishing eighth by firing its best round of the three-day NCAA East Regional with a 1-over 289 Saturday for an 879 total at the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Fla.
The Tigers, seeded 11th, had a solid team effort as sophomore Patton Kizzire fired a 1-under 71 to finish tied for 18th at 3-over 219.
A pair of Tigers in senior All-SEC Stuart Moore and sophomore Jay Moseley tied for 26th at 5-over 221. Moore carded a final round 73 while Moseley had a 78. Freshman Glenn Northcutt recorded his best round of the tournament with a 72 to tie for 44th at 7-over 223. After rounds of 77 and 81, junior Andrew Medley had an outstanding day with a 1-over 73 to finish tied for 94th at 231.
"It's a great feeling," said Auburn head coach Mike Griffin. "It's good to get back to the Championship. We had the good fortune of playing The Preview in the fall out there and that is such an exciting venue in Oregon. We wanted to get back to that place, and I am very excited. We are now tied for the lead at the National Championship with 29 other schools."
No. 16 Wake Forest won the 27-team East Regional after firing the day's best 5-under 283 for an even par 864, a shot ahead of No. 1 Georgia (287-865). No. 13 Texas Tech (291-873) finished third ahead of No. 12 North Carolina (289-874), No. 24 Coastal Carolina (288-877), Charlotte (288-877), No. 5 UCLA (286-878), Auburn (289-879), South Carolina (284-881) and No. 9 UNLV (304-884), all of which advance to the NCAA Championship May 31-June 3 at Crosswater Golf Club at Sunriver (Ore.) Resort.
"It is just a relief to qualify," said Moore. "I am real proud of our team. We played with a lot of heart, and it is just a relief."
After opening with a bogey, Kizzire had four birdies on Nos. 2, 5, 11 and 12 to get to 3-under. The Tuscaloosa, Ala., native bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17 to finish at 1-under. Northcutt mixed birdies at Nos. 11 and 14 with bogeys at Nos. 8 and 17 to finish even par while Moore recorded birdies at Nos. 11 and 15 to get to even par before bogeying No. 16.
Medley began his round with eight-straight pars then bogeyed the par-5 ninth hole. He had a tremendous bogey at No. 13 after having a difficult lie in the lip of a greenside bunker. The Athens, Ala., native then made two consecutive birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 before recording another impressive bogey on the par-4 16th hole. He hit his drive in the left lateral hazard, had to take a plugged drop in a bunker before getting up-and-down for bogey from 125 yards out.
UCLA's Kevin Chappell won medalist honors by firing a 4-under 68 for a 5-under 211 total, a shot ahead of a trio of golfers including UNLV's Jarred Texter (72-212), Southern California's Taylor Wood (73-212) and Coastal Carolina's Dustin Johnson (69-212). Wood and Tennessee Tech's Scott Stallings (70-214) were the two individuals to qualify for the NCAA Championship.
No. 11 Georgia State (295-891), Indiana (287-891) and Georgia Southern (289-891) tied for 11th, seven shots off the cutline. Florida State was in 14th with a 283-893 followed by No. 19 Southern California (303-895), Jacksonville (293-895), Notre Dame (289-897), Tennessee (298-901), Rhode Island (306-907), Maryland (298-915), Western Illinois (302-915), Liberty (304-917), George Washington (308-922) and Richmond (303-928).
This will be Auburn's 14th NCAA Championship appearance and 10th since 1993.