Ephs head to NCAA Golf Tournament in Georgia May 13th

When Brendan Conley, senior co-captain of the Ephs was a first year he participated on the last Williams team that played in the NCAA Tournament in 2005, now he will play on the next Williams team to compete for the NCAA title.

Conley and his teammates won the NESCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the recent NESCAC AQ Tournament in Kensington, Conn., by 13 shots.

The win at the NESCAC AQ gave head coach Rick Pohle nine NESCAC titles in his career and sent his Ephs to a 10th appearance in the NCAAs during his tenure.

Emory University will host the NCAA Championships at the Chateau Elan Resort in Braselton, Georgia, May 13-16th.

Play will be held at the The Woodlands Course and the The Chateau Course. The Woodlands Course is 6,735 yards and par is 72, while par on the 7,030-yard Chateau Course is 71.

The field of 35 teams and five individuals will undergo a change after the first two rounds. After 36 holes are completed the team field will be trimmed to 23 and the list of individual players could change as well with players from teams being eliminated from the team competition, replacing players invited as individuals.

"Our goal of course is to stay through all four days of the event as a team," said Pohle.  "The guys are busy getting their academics in order and making sure they stay sharp with their games by putting in a little time each day on the course. We want them to be excited, but not too excited."

The Ephs will have a practice round on both courses and those opportunities plus their yearly trip to Florida over spring break should help with the kind of course coach Pohle expects to see. "There is a difference between putting on the bent grass greens we have up north and the Bermuda grass greens in the south, so it will be good to play each course ahead of time. It should also help our confidence that we have played on these types of greens before."

The Ephs will field one senior in Conley, two juniors – Matt Felser and co-captain Tyler Zara and two first years Drew Murray and Jake Wagner.