Sooners Set for NCAA East Regional

NORMAN, Okla. -- The 24th-ranked Oklahoma men's golf team is set to participate in the NCAA Division I East Regional May 19-21 (Thursday-Saturday) at the 7,685-yard, par-72 Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech in Radford, Va.

The Sooners will be competing in NCAA postseason play for the 39th time in program history and for the first time since 2008.

“We have had some good preparation this week,” said second-year OU head coach Ryan Hybl. “It is nice for finals to be over and done with so we can focus on purely golf and competing at regionals.”

Hybl's squad is coming off of a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championship in April. The Sooners entered the final found in fifth place, but fell to sixth after a 31-over-par performance.

OU will be led in the No. 1 lineup spot by sophomore Abraham Ancer, owner of the team's best scoring average at 71.8. In March, Ancer set the school record for a three-round score (a 21-under 195) at the Desert Shootout in Goodyear, Ariz.. The performance broke the previous OU record, held by former All-American Anthony Kim, by eight strokes. Ancer is looking to rebound from a 20th-place finish (+15) at the Big 12 Championship in which he shot a fourth-round 79 (+9).

Senior Ryan Sirman will also be featured in the lineup after tying for 11th place at the Big 12 Championship, his seventh top-20 finish of the year. Sirman, who carded a career-low 66 (-4) in the first round at the Big 12 Championship, was also named to the Academic All-Big 12 Second Team.

Junior Riley Pumphrey, a first-team Academic All-Big 12 selection, tied for 14th place at the Big 12 Championship and has recorded three top-10 and eight top-25 finishes on the season.

Freshman Michael Schoolcraft and junior Ben Klaus will fill play in the No. 4 and No. 5 positions, respectively.

A total of 81 teams and 45 individuals have been selected for NCAA regional competition at six sites. The top five teams at each site, along with the low individual from each site not on an advancing team, will earn bids to the 2011 NCAA Men's Golf Championship May 31-June 5 at Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Okla.

Oklahoma will be seeded fifth in the 13-team NCAA East Regional that boasts four conference champions and nine top-50 teams, including second-ranked Georgia Tech.

“The mindset I have talked to the boys about is not qualifying for the NCAA tournament, but trying to go and win this tournament,” said Hybl. “The other stuff will take care of itself.”

Competition begins Thursday with the Sooners teeing off at 7:10 a.m. CT. Live stats will be available at Golfstat.com.

The NCAA East Regional Field (Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking):
1. Georgia Tech (2)
2. LSU (8)
3. Duke (16)
4. Virginia (17)
5. Oklahoma (24)
6. Kent State (33)
7. Virginia Tech (42)
8. Mississippi (57)
9. East Carolina (35)
10. North Carolina-Wilmington (49)
11. Coastal Carolina (61)
12. Lamar (69)
13. Yale (162)

Individuals:
1. T.J. Howe, Penn State
2. John Popeck, Maryland
3. Jake Katz, Binghamton
4. Vaita Guillaume, Campbell
5. Adam Hoffman, Vanderbilt
6. Chandler Brazeal, Wofford
7. Matt Moot, Campbell
8. Richard Fountain, Davidson
9. Herbert Day, Xavier
10. Peter Williamson, Dartmouth

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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