TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Seminoles.com) – Following a superb season highlighted by a No. 1 ranking in the current GCAA National Poll, Florida State Men’s Golf earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional held on May 14-16 at the University of North Carolina Finley Golf Course.
Six 54-hole regional tournaments will be conducted May 14-16. Thirteen teams and ten individuals not on those teams will compete at each of three regionals while the other three regionals will have 14 teams and five individuals not on those teams. The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals.
“We’re not surprised to the point where I made a visit to Chapel Hill last week and walked around the golf course,” FSU Men’s Golf Head Coach Trey Jones said. “We felt like with the year that we’ve had they would keep us close to home and that was the closest one.”
The finals are scheduled for May 29-June 3 at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida. South Florida is the host institution for the 2015 championships.
The Florida State golf team is very familiar with North Carolina. The Seminoles’ last two tournaments played have come in the state, finishing third at the ACC Championship held in Uwharrie Point and winning the Gary Koch Intercollegiate held April 6-7 in Gastonia.
“It helps a lot,” Jones said of having already played in North Carolina. “That’s one of the reasons we made the schedule - to go up there and play before the ACC Championship. It’s nothing our guys haven’t seen and it won’t be a huge adjustment.”
Other teams included in Florida State’s regional are No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 5 Wake Forest, No. 6 Clemson and No. 7 Florida.This is the 10th straight NCAA Regional the Noles have qualified for. The streak started in 2006. In addition, FSU has qualifed for the NCAA Championship in the four of its past five seasons.
Sophomore Jack Maguire leads the Seminoles with an average score of 70.63, while juniors Hank Lebioda and Rowin Caron are carding average scores of 70.70 and 71, respectively. All three players rank in the Top 50 in the NCAA. As a team, FSU’s shooting average of 71.76 is sixth nationally and its Par 3 scoring of 3.10 is tied for first with Vanderbilt.
While earning the regional’s top seed is a worthy accomplishment, the playing field is always even when NCAA Regionals begin. The Seminoles will focus on staying the course and using what has propelled them to a successful year so far.
“Now it’s up to us,” Jones said. “This is a golf team where it doesn’t matter what other people do, if we go play like we have played and are capable of playing then everything is going to work out.”
***FSU Athletics
