Six PBC Golf Teams Advance to NCAA Regional Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS, IND – Six Peach Belt Conference golf teams and one individual learned that they will have the opportunity to compete for a national championship as the NCAA released the 80-team field. Peach Belt teams took six of the 10 team spots available in the Southeast Regional tournament which will be played May 4-6 at the Robert Trent Jones of the Shoals course in Florence, Ala.

Columbus State is the top-seeded team in the region while GCSU was second and Clayton State third. USC Aiken is the #4 seed while Lander is #5 and Armstrong Atlantic State #10. UNC Pembroke’s Jordan Walor received an individual invitation to play. The University of North Alabama will host the regional.

The top five teams and top two individuals not with a team from each regional will advance to the National Championship May 19-22 at Loomis Trail Golf Club in Blaine, Wash., and hosted by Western Washington.

Columbus State is currently the #1-ranked team in the nation. The Cougars, winners of six national championships, were NCAA runners-up in 2006 and finished fourth in 2007. The Cougars have won three tournaments this season and have back-to-back second-place finishes at the Bobcat Invitational and the PBC Championships heading into the NCAA Regional. Andrew Georgiou leads the team and is ranked second in the Peach Belt with a 71.6 stroke average. CSU has the lowest team stroke average in the league at 289.0.

Georgia College will defend its 2008 Southeast Region Championship, and junior Niclas Johansson will also defend individual honors. Four of the starters from last year’s squad return, including Johansson’s fellow All-America teammate, sophomore Joe Young. Classmate Billy Shida and junior Francisco Bide round out the four returning starters. Junior Pedro C. Lima led GCSU at its most recent tournament, helping the Bobcats take third at the PBC Championships.

Clayton State reaches the NCAA Tournament after winning the program’s first-ever PBC Championship last week in Carthage, N.C. The Lakers made a signature comeback on the final nine holes, turning in eight birdies to come from five strokes back. Clayton State’s Wade Binfield won his first tournament of the season at the PBC Championship and will be counted on as the team moves into the NCAAs. Senior All-American Will Wilcox leads the PBC with a 70.8 stroke average, the lowest season average in PBC history. Clayton State as a team had one win and two runner-ups before winning the PBC.

Ranked fifth in NCAA Division II in the latest Nike Golf/Golf World NCAA Division II Top 25, USC Aiken has claimed four regular season tournaments in the 2008-09 season.

The Pacers have won two tournaments each during the fall and spring, including a pair of Division I-dominated events. The Pacers opened their spring campaign by taking top honors as a team at both the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate hosted by Francis Marion and the 12th Annual Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate. USC Aiken has been paced all season by All-Peach Belt Conference performers Roberto Diaz (Veracruz, Mexico) and J.P. Solis (Morelia, Mexico). USCA won the national championship in 2004, ’05 and ’06.

Lander, ranked 13th in the nation, has won twice in 2008-09; taking the Queens Invitational last fall and the AASU/Southbridge Pirate Invitational this spring. Under the guidance of PBC Coach of the Year Chipper Bagwell, the Bearcats will make their third straight appearance in the NCAA Regional since restarting the program in 2006. Lander finished second at the regional in 2007 and reached the national finals, where they finished 14th.

Head coach Michael Butler has led Armstrong Atlantic State to a berth in the NCAA Championships each season since 2002, just one year after the men's golf program was reinstated at AASU. The Pirates reached the national finals in 2004 and finished second in the nation in 2005.

UNC Pembroke freshman Jordan Walor was named to the regional field as an individual. Walor was named the 2009 PBC Freshman of the Year and finished second at the PBC Championships after shooting 69-72-70.

The Peach Belt Conference is home to seven golf national championships.