INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Committee has selected New Mexico State to play in the East Regional of the 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships while Boise State's Troy Merritt earned an individual bid to play in the West Regional.
Three 54-hole regional tournaments will be conducted May 15-17. A total of 27 teams and six individuals not on selected teams were assigned to each regional site. Ten teams and two individuals not on advancing teams will move on from each regional to the championship finals.
Although NMSU head coach Scott Lieberwirth was expecting to play in the West Regional tournament, he does not mind playing in Tennessee, because he is aware of what needs to be done to reach the national tournament in any region.
“I am surprised that we are playing in this region, but they also shipped a lot of teams from the east over to the west regional. They moved a lot of teams around,” Lieberwirth said. “It doesn’t matter which region you go to because you’ll see top teams in all of them. Regardless of where we play, we're still going to have to play our best to get to nationals.”
NMSU was seeded No. 25 in the tournament, but hopes to surprise some people and finish in the top-10 in the Eastern Region to be one of the thirty teams that play in the National Tournament.
“It doesn’t surprise me where we were seeded because they went off of national rankings, but when it comes down to it, rankings don’t really matter,” Lieberwirth said. “We’re really excited for this. The guys aren’t too concerned where we go play because we know we still have a shot to play in the national tournament.”
Merritt (No. 7 Golfstat, No. 13 Golfweek) will travel to the Gold Mountain Golf Course to compete for the individual championship along with student-athletes from the 27 participating universities. Merritt was selected for the honor after capturing the WAC Championship with a 7-under 209, for his fifth consecutive tournament victory. He currently leads the nation in individual victories with seven, scoring average with 69.26 strokes per round, par-4 scoring (3.94) and subpar strokes per round (4.94). He also ranks second amongst NCAA golfers in par-3 scoring (2.98) and par-5 scoring (4.54). He enters the West Regional Championships, having shot under-par in 14 of the previous 15 rounds including the last eight.
The WAC Men’s Player of the Year is the first Bronco since Graham DeLaet in 2006 to be selected to the NCAA Regional as an individual and was the first Boise State golfer to win its conference championship since Ryan Deiro won the Big Sky Championship in 1996.
The NCAA championships will be conducted May 28-31 on the Kampen Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue University is the host institution for this year’s championships.
Listed below are the teams and individuals selected to participate in the championships. Teams winning automatic qualification are designated by their conferences in parentheses.
EAST REGIONAL
Council Fire Golf Club ? Chattanooga, Tennessee
Hosted by University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Georgia
2. Charlotte (Atlantic 10 Conference)
3. South Carolina
4. Duke
5. Chattanooga (Southern Conference)
6. Auburn
7. East Tennessee State
8. Michigan State (Big Ten Conference)
9. Mississippi
10. UAB (Conference USA)
11. Virginia Tech
12. North Carolina State
13. Mississippi State
14. Georgia State (Colonial Athletic Conference)
15. North Florida (Atlantic Sun Conference)
16. UC Irvine (Big West Conference)
17. Augusta State
18. SMU
19. Middle Tennessee
20. Coastal Carolina (Big South Conference)
21. Memphis
22. Virginia
23. Western Carolina
24. Colorado State (Mountain West Conference)
25. New Mexico State (Western Athletic Conference)
26. Western Illinois (The Summit League)
27. Jackson State (Southwestern Athletic Conference)
Individuals
1. Keegan Bradley, St. John’s (New York)
2. Jose Toledo, New Orleans
3. Johnny Caldwell, South Alabama
4. Michael McGrady, Troy
5. Jon Curran, Vanderbilt
6. Grant Leaver, Austin Peay State
WEST REGIONAL
Gold Mountain Golf Club ? Bremerton, Washington
Hosted by University of Washington
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Southern California
2. UCLA
3. Florida State (Atlantic Coast Conference)
4. Stanford
5. Clemson
6. UNLV
7. North Carolina
8. Texas Tech
9. Central Florida
10. Arizona State (Pacific-10 Conference)
11. San Diego State
12. Texas
13. LSU
14. Oregon State
15. Pepperdine
16. Oregon
17. California
18. St. Mary’s (California)
19. Kentucky
20. Wisconsin
21. Washington
22. Oklahoma
23. Kansas State
24. San Diego (West Coast Conference)
25. Denver (Sun Belt Conference)
26. Navy (The Patriot League)
27. Columbia (Ivy Group)
Individuals
1. Troy Merritt, Boise State
2. Brian Locke, Loyola Marymount
3. Tarquin Macmanus, Arizona
4. Jason D’Amore, Loyola Marymount
5. Nathan Stamey, North Carolina-Greensboro
6. Jimmy Lytle, Elon
CENTRAL REGIONAL
Scarlet Golf Course ? Columbus, Ohio
Hosted by The Ohio State University
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Alabama (Southeastern Conference)
2. Oklahoma State (Big 12 Conference)
3. Georgia Tech
4. Florida
5. Tennessee
6. Lamar (Southland Conference)
7. Wake Forest
8. Indiana
9. Texas A&M
10. Louisville
11. Wichita State (Missouri Valley Conference)
12. Kent State
13. Penn State
14. Arkansas
15. Michigan
16. TCU
17. Texas-Arlington
18. Illinois
19. Ohio State
20. Baylor
21. Colorado
22. Eastern Kentucky (Ohio Valley Conference)
23. Marquette (Big East Conference)
24. Eastern Michigan (Mid-American Conference)
25. Cleveland State (Horizon League)
26. Loyola (Maryland) (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
27. Sacred Heart (Northeast Conference)
Individuals
1. Chris Baker, Iowa State
2. Clayton Rask, Minnesota
3. Josh Sandman, Notre Dame
4. Victor Almstrom, Minnesota
5. Brent Long, Western Kentucky
6. Jordan Weber, Northern Iowa