Date Posted: 4/15/2006

ORLANDO, Fla. - The Atlantic Sun Conference descends on Eagle Creek Golf Club to determine the league's 2006 champion and representative in NCAA Regional play.

ETSU looks to be the team to beat after ranking as high as ninth nationally this spring, but challengers abound including Belmont, Mercer, UNF and Jacksonville who have each won events or performed very well in prestigious events this season. Individually, ETSU's Rhys Davies has ranked among the top-10 players all year while JU's Russell Knox landed 15th in the most current Golfstat rankings.

The 54-hole event begins with Gardner-Webb and ETSU teeing off at 7:40 am on Monday morning.

CHAMPIONSHIP NOTABLES

POWERHOUSE NEWCOMER
East Tennessee State University will compete in its first Atlantic Sun Championship and brings some heavy duty credentials with them. The ETSU men's golf team has built a tradition of success, with 20 conference championships and 17 appearances in the NCAA postseason. The Bucs are a consensus top-15 ranked team in all four major collegiate polls and have climbed to as high as ninth during the spring season. Three-time A-Sun Golfer of the Month Rhys Davies is the headliner for the talented group. A PING first-team All-American a year ago, Davies already holds the ETSU record for career victories with seven. The junior also has ranked in the top-10 individually all season and is a semi-finalist for the Ben Hogan Award. The Hogan is presented annually to the top men’s NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or junior college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during the last 12 months. Only twice in 27 years of A-Sun Championship golf has a team won the title in their first appearance at the event.

EXPERIENCE?
Just two members of this season’s field have captured the Atlantic Sun title: Campbell (1999) and Stetson (1990). Of the team’s returning from last year, runner-up North Florida had the best showing in the 2005 championship. With that said, defending champion Duncan Stewart has a chance to become just the fourth student-athlete in conference history to capture back-to-back medalist honors and the first since Troy’s Josh Broadaway won the 1999 and 2000 titles.

DRAIN-O
Only 44 collegiate golfers could claim a hole-in-one through the end of March, and two of them are teammates playing in this week’s field. Mercer’s Austin Weathington and Michael Gregory both carded aces during the 2005-06 season. Weathington carded one of the nation’s first aces of the season, holing out on the 137-yard, 3rd hole at Reynolds Plantation September 20. Gregory’s hole-in-one came in the first round of the Sam Hall Invitational on October 31. The junior from Bolton, Ontario drilled the ace on the 192-yard, 11th hole at Canebreak Golf Club. Miguel Ordonez of UNF added a hole-in-one of his own last weekend at the Billy Hitchcock Intercollegiate.

BELMONT MAKES NEW MARKS
During the 2005-06 season, the Bruins have posted four top-three team finishes, including capturing the team championship at February's Samford Intercollegiate. It marked the second straight season they have won that event. BU set new school records for lowest 18-hole team score (271), lowest 36-hole team score (545), and lowest 54-hole team score (832) at September's Buffalo Rock Southern Showdown. At that event, Jeff Lanier set or tied new school individual records for lowest 18-hole score (64 - tied record), lowest 36-hole score (130), and lowest 54-hole score (199).

LOW MARKS
Mercer’s Andrew An holds the league’s lowest single round score of the season, carding a 63 on his way to fourth place finish at the Sam Hall Invitational. Belmont’s dominant showing at the Buffalo Rock Southern Showdown handed them the lowest individual 54-hole score (199 - Jeff Lanier) as well as the best team single round (271) and three-round (832) totals.

LIPSCOMB BARRIER BREAKER
Lipscomb’s Cody Hale torched the course on his way to winning the EKU Colonel Classic back in the fall. The junior established new school records for 18-hole score (66) and 54-hole score (204). Hale finished seventh at last season’s championship.

Related Links:
 • Atlantic Sun Championship