DENVER - Five of the nine WAC men's golf teams earned a berth to the NCAA Regional tournaments to be played May 17-19. The NCAA Division I Men's Golf Committee announced selections on May 8. Fresno State, Nevada, SMU, TCU and Tulsa will tee off in the Central and West Regionals for the chance to qualify for the national tournament that will be held at the end of the month.
WAC champion TCU, runner-up Tulsa and SMU will head to Stillwater, Okla., to play in one of three regional tournaments. The No. 12 Frogs, No. 39 Hurricane and No. 47 Mustangs are three of 27 teams in the Central Regional, a field highlighted by eight top 25 programs including: TCU, No. 4 Texas, No. 9 Oklahoma State, No. 14 Augusta State, No. 17 Oklahoma, No. 19 Houston and No. 24 Northwestern.
WAC Freshman of the Year and individual medallist David Inglis will help Tulsa, who fell one stroke short of winning the WAC title, in its attempt to advance to the finals. TCU, making its 12th-straight postseason appearance will rely on all-WAC golfers Adam Rubinson and Scott Volpitto, who finished second at the conference tournament. First-team all-WAC selection Franklin Hatchett, the WAC's second highest ranked player, will lead the SMU charge.
Other teams in the Central Regional include: Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State, Baylor, College of Charleston, Colorado, Jackson State, Kansas, Kent State, Lamar, Louisiana-Lafayette, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Florida, Ohio State, Purdue, Texas A&M, Toledo and Wichita State.
Selected to play in the West Regional in Corvallis, Ore., were No. 72 Fresno State, No. 68 Nevada and Hawai`i's Scott Carlyle, one of six individuals from Districts 7 and 8 to be invited. Nevada is familiar with the Trystring Tree Golf Club, having won the Northwest Collegiate there in the fall. Fresno State will be lead by WAC Player of the Year Nick Watney, while all-WAC second-team honorees Sprague Kolp and Mike Haack are excepted to be Nevada's top players.
The 27-team West Regional has six top-25 teams in the field including: No. 5 Arizona State, No. 9 Southern Cal, No. 15 South Carolina, No. 17 Arizona, No.18 New Mexico and No. 19 BYU. Rounding out the field are Stanford, UC Irvine, UNLV, Colorado State, Oregon, California, UCLA, host Oregon State, Pacific, Weber State, San Diego State, Pepperdine and Washington from the West and out-of-region schools Wake Forest, Tennessee, Austin Peay, Oral Roberts, Detroit Mercy and Navy.
The top eight teams from each of the three regional tournaments will advance to nationals. Also qualifying will be the top two individuals in each region not on an advancing team. The championships will be conducted May 30-June 2 at the Duke University Golf Club in Durham, N.C with Duke serving as the host institution.