Furman To Open Play At NCAA Athens Regional Monday

Chloe Johnson & Furman Head Coach Jeff Hull

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman women's golf team will open play in the 54-hole, three-day NCAA Athens Regional Monday at the par-72, 6,347 yard University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga.

The Paladins will tee off beginning at 8:55 a.m. from No. 10 and will play the opening round in a group that includes Augusta and Sacred Heart.

Furman's lineup for the regional will include Morgan, junior Caroline Crumrine, and freshmen Chloe Johnson, Faith Johnson, and Liza Lapeyre.

The Paladins, who are the No. 10 seed in Athens, are part of an 12-team regional field that will battle for a top-five finish and a berth in the 30-team NCAA Championship, which will be held May 19-24 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Athens Regional field includes four of the top 25 teams in the country led South Carolina, which ranks fourth in the latest GolfStat rankings. No. 9 San Jose State, 16th-ranked Ole Miss, and No. 23 Ohio State will compete in Athens.

Furman, which secured the Southern Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by capturing its 20th SoCon Championship last week at Moss Creek's South Course in Hilton Head, S.C., will make its 24th NCAA Regional appearance. The Paladins appeared in 17-straight regionals from 1993, when the regional format began, until 2010.

The Furman team finished sixth at the NCAA Stillwater Regional last season in Stillwater, Okla., and senior Anna Morgan tied for fifth to advance as an individual to the NCAA Championship.

NCAA Athens Regional

Conference automatic qualifiers are indicated in parenthesis next to the institution.

Teams:

Teams:

1. South Carolina

2. San Jose State

3. Ole Miss

4. Ohio State

5. Georgia

6. Maryland

7. Kent State (Mid-American Conference)

8. Charleston (Colonial Athletic Association)