Friday, September 8
Zionsville, IND.
East Carolina University
vs
Wolf Run Intercollegiate
Photo by: Rob Taylor
ECU Opens New Era At The Wolf Run Intercollegiate
September 07, 2017 | Men's Golf
LIVE STATS
ZIONSVILLE, Ind. – A new era in ECU golf begins this weekend as the Pirates open the 2017-18 campaign Friday at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate under head coach Andrew Sapp, who spent the previous six seasons leading the North Carolina men's program.
The three-day, 54-hole event will be held at the par-71, 7,155-yard Wolf Run Course, which hosted the 2011 NCAA Indiana Regional won by Michigan under the director of Sapp, who served nine seasons as the head coach of the Wolverines prior to his tenure at UNC,
"The golf course itself is a venue that I've loved going to," Sapp explained. "I think it's just the anticipation and excitement of getting these guys up to Indiana to compete against a good field and see how they stack up on a difficult golf course.
The Pirates will use a lineup of senior Tim Conover and Jackson Spires along with sophomores Chris Akers, Patrick Stephenson and Blake Taylor as ECU makes its tournament debut.
ECU players will tee off in nine-minute increments beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday playing alongside Indiana and NC State.
"We have a strong roster in place," Sapp said. "At some other programs where I've taken over, it was more of a rebuilding situation, but here we've got a team right now that can compete not only to make it to a NCAA regional, but to the NCAA Championship."
Conover, who is looking to become the first player in school history to participate in four NCAA regional championship tournaments, has the lowest average among the returning players as he led ECU with 72.51 strokes per round last season. Taylor (73.94), Spires (74.21) and Stephenson (74.50) ranked two, three and four on the team a year ago.
"My mantra has always been to play for May," Sapp said. "Whether it's September or April, you're playing for May which is when all the NCAA Championships are. You have to go out this week and play your hardest because it means as much as the conference championship does as far as your ranking is concerned.
"The guys have been working hard during these first two and a half weeks of school, but it has been a rushed two and a half weeks because we are starting pretty early. I think that's good because they're coming off summers where they've been playing a lot of golf and been playing well. Their games are sharp and I think they are ready to go."
In addition to host Indiana and NC State, the field features 16 teams including Arkansas State, Ball State, Bowling Green, Fort Wayne, IUPUI, Kentucky, Miami (Ohio), North Texas, Southern Illinois, Toledo, Western Kentucky, Xavier and fellow American Athletic Conference member UCF.
Kentucky, NC State and UCF each participated in a NCAA regional championship last season with UCF advancing to the national finals.
"The expectations are to qualify for the NCAA regionals," Sapp stated. "That's our expectation going forward every year and that's what it has been in the past. We've got a great balance of senior veterans as well as some young guys. I'm really pleased with the three seniors and their desire and work ethic in their final year to push to reach the goals they came here with and that's to get to the national championship.
"I'm not looking forward to two or three years from now when I have my recruits in. We've got a lot of great things that we're going to do this year."
ZIONSVILLE, Ind. – A new era in ECU golf begins this weekend as the Pirates open the 2017-18 campaign Friday at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate under head coach Andrew Sapp, who spent the previous six seasons leading the North Carolina men's program.
The three-day, 54-hole event will be held at the par-71, 7,155-yard Wolf Run Course, which hosted the 2011 NCAA Indiana Regional won by Michigan under the director of Sapp, who served nine seasons as the head coach of the Wolverines prior to his tenure at UNC,
"The golf course itself is a venue that I've loved going to," Sapp explained. "I think it's just the anticipation and excitement of getting these guys up to Indiana to compete against a good field and see how they stack up on a difficult golf course.
The Pirates will use a lineup of senior Tim Conover and Jackson Spires along with sophomores Chris Akers, Patrick Stephenson and Blake Taylor as ECU makes its tournament debut.
ECU players will tee off in nine-minute increments beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday playing alongside Indiana and NC State.
"We have a strong roster in place," Sapp said. "At some other programs where I've taken over, it was more of a rebuilding situation, but here we've got a team right now that can compete not only to make it to a NCAA regional, but to the NCAA Championship."
Conover, who is looking to become the first player in school history to participate in four NCAA regional championship tournaments, has the lowest average among the returning players as he led ECU with 72.51 strokes per round last season. Taylor (73.94), Spires (74.21) and Stephenson (74.50) ranked two, three and four on the team a year ago.
"My mantra has always been to play for May," Sapp said. "Whether it's September or April, you're playing for May which is when all the NCAA Championships are. You have to go out this week and play your hardest because it means as much as the conference championship does as far as your ranking is concerned.
"The guys have been working hard during these first two and a half weeks of school, but it has been a rushed two and a half weeks because we are starting pretty early. I think that's good because they're coming off summers where they've been playing a lot of golf and been playing well. Their games are sharp and I think they are ready to go."
In addition to host Indiana and NC State, the field features 16 teams including Arkansas State, Ball State, Bowling Green, Fort Wayne, IUPUI, Kentucky, Miami (Ohio), North Texas, Southern Illinois, Toledo, Western Kentucky, Xavier and fellow American Athletic Conference member UCF.
Kentucky, NC State and UCF each participated in a NCAA regional championship last season with UCF advancing to the national finals.
"The expectations are to qualify for the NCAA regionals," Sapp stated. "That's our expectation going forward every year and that's what it has been in the past. We've got a great balance of senior veterans as well as some young guys. I'm really pleased with the three seniors and their desire and work ethic in their final year to push to reach the goals they came here with and that's to get to the national championship.
"I'm not looking forward to two or three years from now when I have my recruits in. We've got a lot of great things that we're going to do this year."
Players Mentioned
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