Jonas Enander Hedin shot -4, 66 to lead the 49ers in round three at the NCAA Championships. |
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June 1, 2007
Williamsburg, Va. - The Charlotte 49ers are tied for third-place after completing play in the third round of the 2007 NCAA Championships on the par-70 Golden Horseshoe Gold Course, Friday. The 49ers shot -4, 276 -- their best round of the tournament -- to move up to third place. The top 15 teams following the third round made the cut for Saturday's fourth and final round to determine the National Champion. Charlotte is in the final grouping Saturday with leader Stanford and second-place Coastal Carolina. They tee off at nine minute intervals from 9:21 to 9:57 from hole #1. Live scoring is available at golfstat.com.
Stanford has the lead after three rounds at -12 while Coastal Carolina is second at -10. Charlotte and Alabama are tied for third at -2. Those four teams are the only schools that are under par after three rounds.
"Obviously our guys are pleased to be in hunt," said head coach Jamie Green, who has earned back-to-back Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honors. "But I think the reality of it is that they don't think we're done. Personally I `m looking forward to start on the front nine where you can get some birides. We're still right there in the hunt. The bottom line is they realize there's more golf to play. Sure, it's nice to have gotten off to a competitive start but all they know is they're playing on same golf course (as everybody else) and they can play it as well as anybody else. They believe in themselves and are looking forward to playing tomorrow. The time to look at the magnitiude of how the week goes is when the week's over."
Junior Jonas Enander Hedin shot a team-best -4, 66 to lead the 49ers on day three. Freshman Corey Nagy added a one-under par 69. At two-under par for the tournament, Nagy is the 49ers top individual. Andrew DiBitetto added an even-par round of 70 and stands at even par through three rounds. Trevor Murphy shot a +1, 71 and Matt Mincer posted a +4, 74.
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"Each day it seems like a we have a new leader," Green noted. "It's a testament to the guys. They don't get down on themselves if they are not the leader one day or another. They believe in themselves. This team's been competitive for a couple of years with basically the same group of guys. And we're not talking about six or seven tournaments, we're talking about 20 or 30. This is what you play for and practice for all year long but along the way is where you build the confidence to know you can do it."
Saturday, the 49ers will try to become the 49ers' first-ever National Champion. The previous best finishes for the 49ers in an NCAA Championship are Final Four appearances by both the men's basketball team in 1977 (4th-place) and the men's soccer team in 1996 (tied for 3rd-place).