CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 16 Virginia men’s golf team opens play at the NCAA Regional in Las Vegas, Nev.., on Monday, May 15. The 54-hole event runs through Wednesday at the Bear’s Best Las Vegas course. Virginia is the No. 3 seed in the 14-team field. The top five finishers from six NCAA regional sites advance to the NCAA Championships set for May 26-31 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Cavaliers’ starting lineup includes freshmen Ben James (ACC Freshman of the Year) and Bryan Lee, sophomore Deven Patel, junior George Duangmanee and senior Pietro Bovari. Senior Jaron Leasure will be the sixth man for the lineup.
Format
The three-day regional format calls for a single-round of play Monday through Wednesday. Play starts each day at 7:30 a.m. PT. The Cavaliers are paired with Stanford and Arizona State during Monday’s opening round. Those teams will go off the 1st tee starting at 7:30 a.m.
The Field (in order of seed)
1. Arizona State, 2. Stanford, 3. Virginia, 4. Oklahoma State, 5. Northwestern, 6. East Tennessee State, 7. Cincinnati, 8. San Francisco, 9. UNC Greensboro, 10. Long Beach State, 11. Oregon State, 12. Davidson, 13. Kansas City, 14. Lehigh.
UVA Lineup
Stroke Low Low
Golfer Events Rds. Avg. Rd. Tourney
Ben James (Fr.) 11 33 69.33 63 196
Pietro Bovari (Jr.) 9 27 71.63 64 201
Bryan Lee (Fr.) 7 21 72.28 67 208
Jaron Leasure (Sr.) 3 9 72.44 68 212
George Duangmanee (Jr.) 11 33 72.48 66 205
Deven Patel (So.) 9 27 72.85 66 206
Regional History
The regional berth marks the 26th time since 1990 the Cavaliers have competed in postseason play. Virginia is looking to advance to the NCAA Championships for the 17th time in its history. Last year, as a 10-seed, the Cavaliers fell just short of advancing, tying for sixth place at Yale. Pietro Bovari led UVA with a 12th-place finish at 3-under 207. The Cavaliers’ best NCAA Regional finish came in 2012 when UVA placed fourth. UVA has had an individual runner-up at regional sites three times, most recently by Denny McCarthy in 2013.
The ACC
Virginia is one of nine ACC schools participating in this year’s championship. Also making the tournament this year are: Clemson, Duke, Florida State,…
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