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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Golf Earns Fifth Straight NCAA Bid, Headed To Virginia
5/9/2011 | Men's Golf
May 9, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss men's golf team earned its fifth consecutive NCAA Regional bid and will head to Blacksburg, Va., May 19-21. The 13-team regional will be played at the Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech.
The Rebels earned the No. 8 seed in the Virginia Tech Regional which also features the ACC Champion Georgia Tech as the top seed, and second-seeded LSU.
This marks the program's 10th NCAA appearance overall and fifth since head coach Ernest Ross returned to the program in 2004.
"When you get to where you're not worried about making NCAAs, that's the mark of a successful program," Ross said. We are glad to be there. We would have liked to be seeded a little higher, but we didn't do everything we wanted to this year. This could be a big crowning achievement. Seedings don't really matter at this point. You play the golf course and let your strokes fall where they may.
The Rebels will take three veterans to Blacksburg with a combined seven NCAA appearances between them.
"We've got three veterans on our team in Jonathan Randolph, Joe David and Billy Brozovich who have all been there before," Ross noted. We got two new guys, Chad Bounds, a sophomore who has not played in an NCAA event, and Kyle Kmiecik is a freshman who is really coming on lately."
Ross said he wasn't familiar with any of the six regional sites that the Rebels could have been sent to, so he didn't really have a preference.
"This is a brand new Pete Dye course that is supposed to be great, and we're excited to go there," he said
The Rebels have been led this year by senior All-American Jonathan Randolph, who has been one of the nation's top golfers the last two years. The Brandon, Miss., native is excited about going to his fourth NCAA Regional.
"To make it four straight years for me is something to put a feather in your cap. It means your team is solid," he said. "When I looked at all the courses, this one looked like the best fit for my game and for Joe's game as well. I am excited and ready to have a good week's practice and head out."
At the beginning of the year, Randolph set as one of his and the team's goals to advance to Karsten Creek (Stillwater Okla.), site of the NCAA Finals.
"It's just a matter of playing well at the right time," Randolph said of the team's struggle to advance past regionals. A couple of years ago at Kentucky, we missed it by a couple strokes. I think every one of us had some bogeys coming down the stretch. We have a lot of experience between me, Joe and Billy, so hopefully that will pay off."
"It's postseason and everyone wants to make it," said David. This team is ready, ready to bloom and show these teams what we have. We haven't peaked yet, and this is the perfect time to do it. We've heard that this is a good golf course, and it's a solid field. We're familiar with a lot of the teams. We are excited and we'll be ready to go come next week."
Eight SEC teams qualified for NCAA regionals. LSU joins the Rebels in the Virginia Tech Regional as the No. 2 seed. Florida is the top seed in the Florida Regional and joined by the third seed, Arkansas. Alabama earned the top seed in the Indiana Regional. Tennessee joins Alabama in Indiana as the sixth seed, and Georgia and Auburn are seeded No. 2 and 3 respectively, in the Colorado Regional.
The top five teams from each regional will advance to the NCAA Finals in Stillwater, Okla., May 31-June 5.
"The good thing about this, is you don't have to win it," Ross said. "You just have to finish in the top five, and that's our goal."
