University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Head to New Jersey for Regional
5/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
2009 NCAA REGIONAL: The Minnesota Golden Gophers travel to the NCAA Regional in Galloway, N.J.. on May 14-16. The regional will be played at the par 72, 7022 yard Tom Fazio-designed Galloway National Golf Club. The 11th-seeded Gophers will begin play on Thursday at 12:35 p.m. CT, paired with Penn State and VCU. This is the 16th time in 17 years that the Gophers have advanced to the NCAA Regionals and the 34th time in the program’s history it has qualified for the NCAA Championships. The low five teams and the low individual not on one of those five teams will advance to the finals on May 26-30.
The Gophers have advanced to regional play in all but one season under Director of Golf Brad James, winning the 1999 Central Region with a score of 865. Minnesota has advanced through the regional into the NCAA Championships nine times since 1993 and captured the 2002 NCAA title in Columbus, Ohio with a score of 1134.
Minnesota is coming off a runner-up finish at the Big Ten Championships in University Park, Pa. In eight seasons under the guidance of Director of Golf Brad James and Associate Head Coach Andrew Tank, Minnesota has finished first or second at the Big Ten Championships five times, including three titles (2002, 2003, 2007) and finished no worse than fourth. No other Big Ten program has approached that level of greatness in championship play during the period. Overall, Minnesota has finished in the top half of the Big Ten every year since 1996. James joined the Gopher coaching staff in 1997.
THE FIELD: The Clemson Tigers, the No.1 seed, are the highest ranked team in the region at 6th, according to the most recent Golfweek rankings. Other rankings include (in order of seed): Alabama (11th). Illinois (12th), Tennessee (24th), Wake Forest (28th), Colorado State (29th), Kent State (51st), Coastal Carolina (46th), Virginia (52nd), Penn State (56th), Minnesota (64th), Virginia Commonwealth (63rd), the host Columbia Lions (202nd) and Sacred Heart (203).
PISANI NAMED SECOND TEAM ALL-BIG TEN: Following his tie for third place finish at the Big Ten Championships on May 3, junior Ben Pisani was named Second-Team All-Big Ten. He led the Gophers in the fall and spring seasons in stroke average at 73.57 and 72.58, respectively. His combined stroke average of 73.11 this season is tied for the 19th-lowest in the history of Minnesota golf and is his lowest in the three seasons he has been at the U.
Pisani compiled seven top 20 finishes in 2008-09, two of which were also top-10 finishes, including the aforementioned tie for third place at the 2009 Big Ten Championships. Earlier this season he tied a career-low 54-hole score by shooting a 5-under par 211 at the Administaff Augusta State Invitational in April and established a career-low with a second-round 67, also in the Administaff Invite.
THE GOPHERS: The Gophers lineup will consist of seniors Victor Almstrom and Yu Katayama, juniors Thomas Campbell and Ben Pisani and freshman Derek Chang. Almstrom and Pisani were in the Gopher lineup the last time the squad qualified for the NCAA Regionals (2006-07) and are the only members of the 2008-09 team that has NCAA Championship experience.
The team shot a combined 54-hole score of 918 to finish in a tie for 10th place and secure a spot in the NCAA Championships. Almstrom recorded a 237 and Pisani a 238 in the regional. Almstrom then posted a 1-under par 279 (tied for 15th individually) in the championships, to lead the Gophers to a tie for ninth place finish. Pisani improved as well, as he carded a 72-hole score of 292 and finished in a tie for 64th.
Players Mentioned
