May 5, 2008

AUBURN -- The 16th-ranked Auburn men's golf team earned a six seed in the 27-team NCAA East Regional to be played at the Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga, Tenn., May 17-19. Eight of the nation's top 25 teams in the Golfweek rankings are in the East Regional.

Auburn is led by first-team All-SEC senior Jay Moseley, who has a 71.40 stroke average, junior All-SEC Glenn Northcutt (72.48), senior Gordon Strother (73.10), senior All-SEC Patton Kizzire (73.26), senior Jamie Bowen (73.73) and senior Steven Groover (74.38).

The Tigers are making their ninth-consecutive Regional appearance and 18th overall in the last 20 years. Auburn has been placed in the East Regional in every appearance other than going to the West Regional in 2005.

"I am very excited about once again competing in postseason play," said Auburn head coach Mike Griffin. "It is what we expect with our program, and we enjoy competing for championships. We hope to once again advance out of the regionals to the National Championship. We are happy to have the opportunity and having the chance to compete.

"It shows once again the East is absolutely dominant. The SEC and the ACC dominates. Eleven SEC teams made it and Vanderbilt, the only league team not to, had an individual make it in Jon Curran. It is a golf course where we are going to have to go low."

The East Regional teams in order of seeding include No. 2 Georgia, No. 9 Charlotte, No. 12 South Carolina, No. 14 Duke, No. 13 Chattanooga, No. 16 Auburn, No. 21 East Tennessee State, No. 20 Michigan State, Ole Miss, UAB, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Mississippi State, Georgia State, North Florida, Cal-Irvine, Augusta State, SMU, Middle Tennessee State and Coastal Carolina to round out the top 20.

Memphis is the 21st-seed followed by Virginia, Western Carolina, Colorado State, New Mexico State, Western Illinois and Jackson State.

Individuals in the East Regional include St. John's Keegan Bradley, New Orleans' Jose Toledo, South Alabama's Johnny Caldwell, Troy's Michael McGrady, Vanderbilt's Jon Curran and Austin Peay's Grant Leaver.

The top 10 teams and two individuals not on those teams qualify for the 111th NCAA Men's Golf Championship at The Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind., May 28-31.

Eleven SEC teams qualified for the Regionals, including No. 2 Georgia, No. 12 South Carolina, No. 16 Auburn, Ole Miss and Mississippi State in the East at Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.; No. 1 Alabama, No. 6 Florida, No. 11 Tennessee and Arkansas in the Central at The Scarlet Golf Course in Columbus, Ohio; and LSU and Kentucky in the West at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash.