CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's golf team is off to San Diego, Calif., to participate in the NCAA Regional at Carleton Oaks Golf Course in San Diego, Calif., the NCAA announced Monday. A top five finish at the regional will send Chattanooga back home to The Honors Course for the NCAA Championship June 1-6.
All six NCAA Regional locations will play May 20-22. The Mocs will face No. 1 Oregon, No. 12 UNLV, No. 13 Augusta State, No. 25 Tennessee, San Diego State, Cal, UCF, Arizona, UC Irvine, Missouri, New Mexico State and Oral Roberts where 10 individuals will compete as well. Five teams and one individual on a non-advancing team will earn a trip to Chattanooga for the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship June 1-6 at The Honors Course.
"It's a great opportunity for our program," said head coach Mark Guhne. "It is always a tough test to get through regionals to the finals and this year is no different. But we have a chance to do something special and need to take advantage of it."
This is the fourth regionals nod for the Mocs in four years. Last year, UTC finished third in the South Central Region at Oklahoma State to advance to its first finals appearance ending up 18th at Inverness Club.
Southern Conference Player of the Year Stephan Jaeger leads the Mocs with a 72.06 scoring average. He tied for low Mocs score in both the region and finals a year ago tying for 13th at Oklahoma State. Fellow All-SoCon pick Derek Rende is second averaging 72.84 strokes per round. Freshman Steven Fox (73.94) and seniors Fredrik Qvicker (74.10) and J.T. Clendenin (75.06) round out the travel squad.
Chattanooga won the Cleveland Golf/Palmetto Intercollegiate this season, its 14th win in Mark Guhne's fifth year as head coach. The Mocs finished second three times including at the prestigious Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic.
UTC has a 1,583-stroke advantage over its opponents in 2009-10. The team is 14-11 against SEC foes and 12-10-1 against the ACC. It owns wins over No. 10 Florida State, No. 11 Texas Tech, No. 14 Georgia Tech (2-0), No. 16 Georgia (2-0), No. 17 Virginia, No. 18 South Carolina, No. 20 Clemson, No. 21 North Florida (2-0) and No. 24 Duke.
The Mocs are paired with UCF and Arizona in the first two rounds (May 19 & 20) teeing off hole No. 1 at 8:50 a.m., on Thursday, May 20. The trio will also play together Friday morning heading off No. 10 at 8 a.m. The field will be re-paired for the final round on Saturday, May 21.GoMocs.com is the official website of the Chattanooga Mocs. The Mocs can also be followed on their official Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ChattanoogaMocs, or on Twitter, www.twitter.com/GoMocs.