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University of North Carolina Athletics
Sophomore Receives Individual Bid for NCAA Regional
May 4, 2009 | Men's Golf
May 4, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Sophomore Kevin O'Connell will play as the top individual in the East Regional of the men's golf NCAA Championship.
The Cary, N.C., native was the only Tar Heel selected to the tournament.
The East Regional will be hosted by Columbia University and will be played at Galloway National Golf Club in Galloway, N.J., from Thursday May 14th until Saturday May 16th. Carolina did not receive a team bid for the first time since the inception of the regional format in 1989.
This year's NCAA Regionals will look different from years past.
Instead of having three Regional sites, there will now be six. Three of those Regionals will host 14 teams and five individuals while the other three will host 13 teams and 10 individuals. The East Regional, where O'Connell will be playing, has14 teams and five individuals total.
After Regional play concludes, five teams and the low individual not on one of those teams will advance to the NCAA Championship at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, hosted by the University of Toledo. The championship will take place from Wednesday May 27th until Saturday May 30th. Stay tuned to TarHeeBlue.com for updates on O'Connell's tournament play.
O'Connell has fired three top-10 and seven top-20 finishes this year in nine events. O'Connell carded two top-10 finishes last fall, tying for sixth place at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate and tying for 10th at the Maryland Intercollegiate. His other top-10 finish came in this spring's Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational where he tied for fourth place. O'Connell also tied for 15th place at the ACC Championship and the Hootie at Bulls Bay Collegiate, and tied for 19th at the General Hackler Championship and the River Landing Intercollegiate.
O'Connell, a two-time all-conference performer, leads the Tar Heels with a 71.88 scoring average for the year. He has fired 14 rounds of par or better, five in the 60s. O'Connell was selected MVP of the 2008 Fuji Xerox USA vs. Japan Collegiate Golf Championship played in Tokyo last summer. He also tied for 20th place at the 2008 Western Refining All-America Golf Classic in El Paso, Texas, last fall.
The complete list of teams participating at the East Regional are as follows (by seed): Clemson, Alabama, Illinois, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Colorado State, Kentucky State, Coastal Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania State, Minnesota, Virginia Commonwealth, Columbia, and Sacred Heart. Individuals receiving bids to the East Regional are O'Connell, Dan Woltman of Wisconsin, Robert Karlsson of Liberty, Peter Williamson of Dartmouth, and Eric Hawerchak of Central Connecticut.
Seven Atlantic Coast Conference teams were selected to play in NCAA Regionals. Clemson received the top seed of the East Regional and will play against Wake Forest (5 seed) and Virginia (9 seed) at Galloway National Golf Club. Florida State received a bid to the fifth seed at Red Tail Golf Club in Sorrento, Fla. Georgia Tech (2 seed), N.C. State (3 seed) and Duke (7 seed) also earned Regional bids and will play at the Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Kentucky. A full listing of all the team and individual bids can be found at www.NCAA.com.
Players Mentioned
