NC State
NCAA Regional Championships
Men's Golf Advances to NCAA Championships
5/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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May 20, 2006
Raleigh, N.C. - The NC State men's golf team will be advancing to the NCAA Championships, after bring home a fifth place finish at the 2006 NCAA West Regional Championship held this weekend in Tucson, Arizona. The Pack finished with a team score of 19-under par (282-273-290=845), and will be heading to Sunriver, Oregon, to compete in the 109th NCAA Championships held May 31-June 3 at Crosswater Club at Sunriver Resort. NC State has now placed in the top-10 at the NCAA Regional Championships each of its last five trips, and will be competing at the NCAA Championships for the fourth time in the last six years.
"We struggled today," said head coach Richard Sykes. "We got in the wrong lane in NASCAR terms.We played well enough the first two days to maybe be able to have a bad day and still gave ourselves the opportunity to make it to Oregon."
The last time the Pack advanced to the NCAA Championships was in 2003, and NC State placed 15th overall. Coach Richard Sykes' top team showing was a sixth place finish in 2002.
At the NCAA West Regional, the Pack was led by senior All-ACC performer Stephen Lewton and freshman Nathan Spoon, as each finished at 6-under par for the tournament. Lewton shot a team best 2-under par (70) on the final day, with three birdies and just one bogey. Spoon, after entering the day in second place in the field of 141 participants at 9-under par, shot a 3-over par (75) today. Lewton had rounds of 73-67-70 on the weekend, while Spoon shot 68-67-75 each day.
"This week has shown that we can compete with the really good teams and it has given the guys the confidence to keep playing strong," said Lewton.
NC State also had two other golfers finish under par for the weekend, juniors Jerry Richardson and Garry Hill. Richardson finished the weekend at 3-under par, after he shot a 72-even par on the final day, which included a team-five birdies in the round. Hill shot 1-under par for the three rounds, shooting 1-under par each of the first two days, and 1-over par on Saturday.
Freshman Darren Blair was NC State's final golfer, as he finished at 2-over par for the tournament. Blair's final day was highlighted with four birdies.
Complete results from all three NCAA Regional Championships held this weekend are available at www.golfstat.com.
NC State - 282-273-290=845 (-19) Stephen Lewton - 73-67-70=210 (-6) Nathan Spoon - 68-67-75=210 (-6) Jerry Richardson - 73-68-73=213 (-3) Garry Hill - 71-71-73=215 (-1) Darren Blair - 70-73-75=218 (+2)
