Bulldogs picked to play in Columbia Regional in first-ever NCAA appearance
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The 2014 NEC Tournament Champion Bryant University men's golf team was selected on Monday to play in the Columbia Regional of the NCAA tournament on May 15-17th. The selection marks the first-ever Division 1 postseason appearance for the Bulldogs, who are in just their sixth year of play at the Division 1 level.
The Black and Gold are fresh off their first-ever NEC tournament title, where they received a memorable performance from freshman Ryan Tombs (Bedford, N.H.), who shot 3-under par and helped lead the Bulldogs to a 592 team score (+16). Joe Walp (Portland, Maine) and Zach Garbacik (South Hadley, Mass.) both finished in a tie for ninth at +6 and helped the Bulldogs edge Fairleigh Dickinson by 8 strokes for the victory.
"It's a very exciting time for our guys," Bryant head golf coach Charlie Blanchard said. "Seeing our name up there and going to a site with phenomenal programs, it's just a great time to be a Bulldog."
The regional will be hosted by Missouri and played at The Club at Old Hawthorne; a 7,221 par-72 golf course minutes east of downtown Columbia. Fourteen teams will play in the regional that features top-seed Oklahoma State, who is followed by No.2-seed Virginia, No 3. LSU, No. 4 Arkansas, and No. 5 Arizona State. Rounding out the rest of the field in order of seeding is Iowa, San Diego State, Missouri, Iowa State, Middle Tennessee State, Ohio State, Denver, Loyola (Md.) and Bryant. The top five teams from each regional site will advance to the round of 30, where that field will then be left into eight teams competing for a National Championship.
For more information on Bryant's regional matchup and all your 2014 NCAA Division 1 Golf Championship news, be sure to visit NCAA.com. Live scoring of the entire three-day regional will also be available on Golfstat.com.