University of Tennessee Athletics
VOLS TO COMPETE AT 2007 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 28, 2007 | Men's Golf
May 28, 2007
The 10th-seeded Tennessee men's golf team will travel today to compete in the 2007 NCAA Championships at the Golden Horse Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va., Wednesday through Saturday.
Tennessee enters the tournament with an overall record of 127-44-3 (.738) and a Southeastern Conference record of 26-16 (.619). The Vols are coming off a fifth-place finish at the Central Regional, the school's third top-five finish in five years.
UT joins six fellow conference members in the tournament. Also from the SEC are No. 1 Georgia, No. 3 Alabama, No. 5 Florida, No. 16 South Carolina, No. 18 Auburn, and No. 20 Vanderbilt.
For the first and second rounds Tennessee is paired with defending national champion Oklahoma State who finished sixth at the Central Regional and Stanford who finished seventh at the West Regional.
The Vols will compete with a lineup that has been a combined 140 rounds of golf this season and has a combined scoring average of 73.33.
"Basically they could all play one or they could all play five," said Kelson. "We could be mixing and matching but it really doesn't matter to them. I know they just believe in each other, no matter what number they are playing."
Leading the Vols into the finals in the one position is junior Philip Pettitt. The Murfreesboro native was named first-team All SEC after a season where he earned four top-10 finishes and led the team with a 72.60 scoring average.
Fellow junior Charlie Ford anchors the No. 2 spot. Ford is coming off a top-10 finish at the NCAA Central Regional where he carded a 10-over-par 223 to place ninth. That finish gave him four top-10 finishes on the year.
Competing in the third position is sophomore Chris Paisley. Paisley has been one of the most consistent players for the Vols this season with a scoring average of 73.47 and 13 round of par or better. He tied for 21st at the NCAA Central Regional.
Senior Tino Weiss is in the fourth position with a scoring average of 73.83 and two top-10 finishes on the season. His most recent coming at the 2007 SEC Championship where he finished tied for second with fellow teammate, helping the Vols win their third SEC title in school history.
Rounding out the Tennessee contingent in the fifth spot will either be junior Jonathan Mount or freshman David Holmes. A continuing knee injury forced Holmes to replace Mount before each of the last two tournaments. Coach Kelson says they will evaluate Mount the week of the championships and make their decision at that time.
The Vols have competed in the championships ten previous times. The last time Tennessee competed was 2005, when the team finished 18th. UT's highest finish came in 1980 when it finished sixth.
