Wake Forest Athletics
Deacons Face Tough Field in NCAA Central Regional
5/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 14, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The No. 19 Wake Forest men's golf team will attempt to qualify for its fourth consecutive NCAA Championship this weekend at the NCAA Central Regional in Columbus, Ohio.
Wake will send ACC Player of the Year Webb Simpson, senior Chris McCartin, junior Dustin Groves and sophomores Brendan Gielow and Travis Wadkins to compete with a 27-team field the Deacs have had little success against.
The Deacs are a combined 8-13-2 against the field, which includes No. 1 Alabama, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 6 Florida, No. 8 Georgia Tech, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 17 Texas A&M, No. 23 Indiana, No. 25 Louisville and No. 27 Lamar.
Wake holds three victories over the aforementioned teams.
"It's going to take some solid golf and a lot of patience to get to the next round," Haas said. "We're excited about it; we're always excited about the postseason. The guys are ready to go with exams being over and they're just ready to play some golf."
Ten teams and two individuals not on advancing teams will move on from each regional to the championship finals at Purdue's Kampen Course, May 28-31.
Simpson, playing in his final season as a Demon Deacon, leads the squad in stroke average at 70.38 per 18 holes. Simpson took individual honors at the ACC Championship on April 20 and he has never been on a Deacon team that missed qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
McCartin has also been an integral part of Wake's current three-year streak. He and Simpson birdied the first hole of a three-team playoff last season in the West Regional in Tempe, Ariz. to propel the Deacs to the championship round.
Groves and Gielow are playing in their second straight NCAA Regional. Wadkins will be playing in his first.
This marks the ninth consecutive regional selection for Wake Forest and its 19th selection since the NCAA went to a regional format in 1989. The 1999 season remains the lone season the Deacs have not been selected to a regional.
Wake has never played in the Central Regional.
Teams will play Ohio State's par-71, 7,455-yard Scarlet Course, which Golf Digest has rated the best collegiate golf facility in the country. The course was originally designed by Dr. Alister MacKenzie in 1938 but Buckeye alumnus Jack Nicklaus led course renovation efforts that were completed in 2006. The Scarlet Course has also played host to 10 men's National Championships and has been the site of several U.S. Open qualifiers, U.S. Amateur qualifiers and the 1977 USGA Junior Championship.
The Deacs will tee-off at approximately 12:15 p.m. Thursday and will play alongside Indiana and Texas A&M.
Live scoring and course statistics will be available at Golfstat.com.
Cloudy skies, a high of 69 degrees and a 20 percent chance of rain has been projected for Columbus Thursday by Weather.com.
A chance of rain showers have been predicted for every round, including a 60 percent chance for Friday's second round.
- WakeForestSports.com -
Players Mentioned
