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Sunday, May 20, 2007



FINDLAY FIGURES IN BIRDIE BLITZ AND
HE’S HEADING FOR NCAA GRAND FINALE

Fraserburgh teenager Jordan Findlay will play in the NCAA Division 1 championships – the season-ending high spot of the American college golf season at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, Williamsburg in Virginia.
Findlay, pictured right, and the rest of the East Tennessee State University won their place in the grand finale from May 30 to June 2 with a birdie blitz in a play-off against the teams of Wake Forest University and Oregon State University in the NCAA Division 1 West Regional qualifying tournament.
Only the leading 10 teams go forward from a field of 27 colleges. East Tennessee State, Wake Forest and Oregon State tied for the last two places on 839.
In blistering hot temperatures on the Arizona desert course – the thermometer touched 99 degrees at its peak – the players from each team (15 in all) had to play a sudden-death play-off for an aggregate total.
Four of the East Tennessee State squad – Jordan Findlay, Welsh Walker Cup player Rhys Davies and Irishmen Cian McNamara and Seamus Power – all birdied the first play-off hole to ensure their college team gained ninth place. Wake Forest won the 10th.
It was a great finish to a tournament in which Findlay did not do well over the regulation 54 holes. He had rounds of 76, 77 and 76 – including one triple bogey and three double bogeys – for a total of 13-over-par 229 over a 7,057yd, par-72 course which was playing short in the heat.
Jordan finished joint 131st in the field of 141 players but that was all forgotten as he added his play-off birdie to book the team’s trip to Virginia.
Rhys Davies scored 70, 67 and 68 to gain joint 14th place on four-under-par 205, seven shots behind the winner, Benjamin Alvarado (Arizona State) with 67, 65 and 66 for 198.
Augusta State’s Wallace Booth from Comrie finished tied 23rd on 207 with three rounds of 69.
INDIVIDUAL SCOREBOARD
198 Benjamin Alvarado (Arizona State) 67 65 66.
201 Kevin Chappell (UCLA) 66 68 67, Jon Curran (Vanderbilt0 71 65 65, Jamie Lovemark (Southern California) 69 63 69.
Other scores:
205 Rhys Davies (East Tenneessee State) 70 67 68 (jt 14th).
207 Wallace Booth (Augusta State) 69 69 69, Gareth Shaw (East Tennessee State) 70 70 67 (jt 23rd).
212 Seamus Power (East Tennessee State) 69 66 77 (jt 53rd).
216 Cian McNamara (East Tennessee State) 69 74 73 (jt 81st).
229 Jordan Findlay (East Tennessee State) 76 77 76 (jt 131st).
TEAM TOTALS
820 South Carolina.
822 UCLA.
824 Southern California, Arizona State.
Other qualifiers:
839 (after play-off) East Tennessee State, Wake Forest.

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