Frog golfers open NCAA Central Regional play Thursday
5/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
May 17, 2006
CHARDON, Ohio - The TCU men's golf team will begin postseason play Thursday afternoon, as the 14th-seeded Horned Frogs, paired with Oklahoma and Purdue, tee off at the NCAA Central Regional starting at 1:05 p.m. (CDT). Live hole-by-hole scoring of the tournament will be available on www.golfstat.com.
The Central Regional is being played at the Sand Ridge Golf Club in Chardon, Ohio. Earlier this season, the Frogs recorded a season-best second-place finish among 17 teams at the Cleveland State Invitational on the par-71, 7,085-yard course. The Central Regional features four teams ranked in the nation's top 10 and 18 top-50 schools.
The 27-team regional sports the following schools (in order of seeding with their Golfweek.com national rankings): Oklahoma State (No. 2), Georgia Tech (No. 4), Texas A&M (No. 6), Clemson (No. 8), Duke (No. 18), Texas (No. 17), Kentucky (No. 22), Tulsa (No. 23), Northwestern (No. 28), Minnesota (No. 33), Lamar (No. 21), Kent State (No. 34), Oklahoma (No. 36), TCU (No. 38), Purdue (No. 41), SMU (No. 35), Xavier (No. 40), Texas-Arlington (No. 49), Colorado (No. 58), Missouri (No. 62), Nebraska (No. 66), Kansas State (No. 71), Eastern Kentucky (No. 128), Cleveland State (No. 189), Siena (No. 183), Princeton (No. 167) and St. Francis (No. 233).
The top 10 teams from each of this week's three regional sites, as well as the top two individuals on non-qualifying teams, will advance to the 2006 NCAA Championships May 31-June 3 at the Sunriver Resort's Crosswater Club in Sunriver, Ore. The 7,630-yard, par-72 course was the site of the Mountain West Conference Championships last month.
This is the 17th consecutive season that the Frogs have earned a bid to the regionals. TCU and Texas are the only schools in the 32-team South Central Region, which includes schools in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, to reach the postseason each year since 1990. TCU has advanced to the NCAA Championships 10 times over that span.
The Horned Frogs have been a balanced team all year long. Three TCU golfers have stroke averages under 74.00, led by freshman Jon McLean (73.70). Senior Drew Laning (73.80) and sophomore Franklin Corpening (73.81) have also enjoyed breakout seasons. All three players are tied for the team lead with three top-20 finishes on the year.
TCU's other two participants, freshman Tom Miles (74.04) and junior Drew Stoltz (75.15), shined at the MWC Championships last month. Miles was runner-up at the event, while Stoltz, the lone Frog with previous NCAA Regional experience, tied for sixth place.
Thursday's weather forecast calls for a rainy, windy day with a high of 52 degrees. There is a 60 percent chance of showers and winds are predicted to be 20-30 miles per hour.
-www.gofrogs.com-
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