Wake Forest Athletics
Men's Golf Ready For NCAA Regional Test
5/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
NCAA Central Regional
May 19-21, 2011
Wolf Run Golf Club
Zionsville, Ind.
14 Teams
75 Players
Top 5 teams and top individual not on those advance to the NCAA Championship
Wake Forest is the No. 5-seed
The Wake Forest men's golf team will open the NCAA Central Regional on Thursday morning at the Wolf Run Golf Club in Zionsville, Ind. Wake is paired with Tennessee and Stanford and will start off the tenth tee at 8:20 a.m. The top five teams and top individual not on one of those teams will advance to the NCAA Championship, which is being played at the Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla., on May 31 through June 5.
WAKE FOREST AT THE NCAA REGIONALS
This will be the 22nd appearance for the Demon Deacons in an NCAA Regional. Wake has failed to qualify for the regionals just once in the 23 years since the NCAA switched to the regional format. That was in 1999, when the Deacons were represented individually by Michael Capone.
Wake has qualified for the NCAA Championships 14 times through the regional format which started back in 1989. The Demon Deacons have three regional victories, all within the last six years. The first win came at the East Regional in 2005 at the Golf Club of Tennessee when the team finished a remarkable 17-under par. Sean Moore and Kyle Reifers led the way with a pair of top-10 finishes as Moore finished tied for 3rd at 10-under and Reifers was tied for 10th at 6-under.
A year later at the East Regional at Lake Nona Country Club, the same duo led the way to Wake's second-straight regional victory. Reifers finished fifth at 3-under par while Moore was tied for 11th at 1-over par. The Deacons won the tournament by 9-shots over Texas Tech.
Wake's third regional victory came in 2008 when it outlasted a very strong field in adverse con¬ditions at the Ohio State Scarlet Course. Wake won the event over No. 1-ranked Alabama and No. 3-ranked Oklahoma State. The Deacons finished at 27-over par, 10 shots ahead of the Cowboys.
Brendan Gielow finished tied for second overall at 2-over after strong rounds of 69-72-74. Dustin Groves enjoyed his best tournament of the year as he finished fourth after rounds of 72-70-74.
In all, Wake is looking to qualify for its 45th NCAA Championships and its sixth in the last seven years.
THE LINEUP THIS WEEK
Wake Forest's lineup this week will feature a mix of youth and experience. Junior Lee Bedford heads the lineup that also includes sophomores Evan Beck and Charlie Harrison, senior Kris Keiser and freshman John Varol.
Bedford and Beck have been the two strongest players for the Deacs all season. The duo has had very similar years as Beck holds a 71.91 scoring average through 11 events while Bedford is close behind at 71.92 in 12 events. Those are the sixth and seventh-best averages in the ACC. Both players have also recorded a total of nine top-20 finishes.
Bedford started his year with a victory at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic after closing with rounds of 66-68 to finish at 10-under par. He's finished a total of seven events this year under-par and picked-up his second victory of the season at the Irish Creek Collegiate last month. On the year, Bedford has posted a team-best seven top-10 finishes and over 85 percent of his rounds have counted towards the team score.
Beck has finished outside of the top-20 just twice in his 11 events and has recorded a team-high five top-5 finishes. He has played 19 of 33 rounds at par or better and had a string of six-straight rounds under-par over two events in the fall. The Virginia Beach, Va., native is the only player on the team to have all 33 of his rounds count towards the team score.
Harrison has played in all 11 team events and has the third-best average on the team at 74.2. He has had 28 of his 33 rounds count towards the team score and he has posted 12 rounds at par or better. The Atlanta, Ga., native has three top-20s on the year with his best finish being tied for 3rd at the Seahawk Intercollegiate earlier this spring.
Varol had a decent fall season for the Deacs but then had a tough start to the spring. After a couple of non-characteristic rounds at the General Hackler Championship, Varol put together a solid showing at the Irish Creek Invitational and then shined in his first ACC Championship. The Waxhaw, NC, native led the team all weekend, posting rounds of 69-70-75 to finish in a tie for 10th. He is just the third Demon Deacon freshman to place in the top-10 in the last 20 years.
Keiser is a senior walk-on who just joined the team this semester. He has been one of the hardest workers all spring and earned a spot in the lineup for the Irish Creek Intercollegiate last month. Keiser backed-up his promotion by opening the tournament with rounds of 72-71, both of which counted towards the team score. He has continued to play well over the last couple of weeks and earned his spot in the lineup.
Players Mentioned
