May 21, 2005
KINGSTON SPRINGS, Tenn. - Giwon Suh shot a 2-under-par 69 Saturday to lead UCF as the Golden Knights shot a 5-over-par 289 and finished 16th in the NCAA East Regional at The Golf Club of Tennessee.
Wake Forest won the 27-team at 17-under-par, two strokes ahead of Tennessee. Georgia finished third at 9-under-par, followed by Florida at 7-under. Georgia Southern finished 10th at 2-under-par and claimed the final qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships, which will be played at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md. June 1-4. The Golden Knights finished a 17-over-par.
Dustin Johnson of Coastal Carolina fired a 7-under-par 64 and claimed medalist honors at 15-under-par, one stroke ahead of the 36-hole leader Rhys Davies of East Tennessee State, who shot a 3-under-par 68. Florida's Matt Every tied for third at 10-under-par.
Suh and fellow freshman Ben Leong were UCF's highest finishers. They tied for 39thth at 2-over-par for the tournament. Leong was at 4-under-par for the tournament and in contention to qualify as an individual, but made a triple-bogey 6 on the par-3 16th hole and then followed that with a bogey on 17 and a double-bogey on 18 Saturday.
Andreas Hoegberg tied for 62nd, Preston Brown tied for 114th and Sonny Nimkhum tied for 124th.
It's the second consecutive year UCF qualified for an NCAA Golf Regional. The Golden Knights finished 12th at the West Regional in 2004. UCF began the day tied for 16th after dropping 16 shots over the final seven holes Friday. It was that stretch that took them out of serious contention for a top 10 finish.
"Despite Ben's finish, the guys played pretty well today," UCF coach Nick Clinard said. "Unfortunately, we dug ourselves too deep of a hole with our performance yesterday. Overall, we had a good year, which is something we can build on for next year."