May 19, 2007

Alpharetta, Ga. - Western Carolina junior Matt Cook shot five-over, 77, in Saturday's final round at the NCAA Men's Golf East Regional, slipping into a four-way tie for 46th with a three-day total of 223. Cook, who was making his second-consecutive appearance at the regional event after earning an individual at-large bid, posted his career-best finish at the event improving over 60 spots from a season ago.

With the top 10 teams advancing to the NCAA National Championship, Cook was 14th among the individuals who were not eligible to advance as a team, which included members off the 11th-place through 27th-place finishing teams.

Top-ranked Georgia completed the tournament with a nine-under-par total of 855 to claim the team championship, while Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech each finished tied for second with three-over, 867. Joining the Bulldogs, Gators, Tigers and Yellow Jackets to advance to the NCAA Division I Championship May 30-June 2 at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Va., are fifth-place finishing Florida State (873), Duke (874), Charlotte (875), North Carolina (877) and Georgia State (880), who finished fifth through ninth.

Coastal Carolina defeated Clemson for the 10th and final qualifying team in a playoff that lasted four holes and two-and-a-half hours.

Florida's Billy Horschel and Brendon Todd of Georgia finished tied atop the individual leader board with 54-hole scores of six-under, 210. Todd's Bulldog teammate, Chris Kirk, finished tied for third with Clemson's Kyle Stanley at five-under, 211, with Auburn's Patton Kizzire rounding out the top five with a four-under, 212.

With Coastal Carolina edging Clemson for the final team transfer spot, Stanley as well as UAB's Zach Sucher were the top to finishing individuals not on a qualifying team, thereby earning a berth in the NCAA National Championship.

Cook got off to a rough start, bogeying his first hole of the morning on No. 10, before carding a double and triple bogey on the par 4 No. 12 and par 3 No. 13, respectively. Two additional bogeys had the Murphy, N.C., native staring at eight over before the turn, but Cook recovered to birdie the par 5 18th for the second-straight day to finish the back nine at seven-over.

Over the final nine holes, Cook played his best golf of the 54-hole tournament, shooting two-under with birdies on the par 4 No. 4 and his final hole, the par 5 No. 9.

The tournament concludes the season for Cook, who currently sits atop Western's all-time career scoring chart and was the nation's top-rated golfer according to Golfstat at mid-season. During the 2006-07 campaign, he posted seven top 10 finishes, including three-consecutive individual medalist honors during the fall portion of the season and a fourth-place showing at last month's Southern Conference Championship. The All-SoCon performer and two-time SoCon Player of the Month this season was also twice recognized by Golf World, making its mid-season "All-American" team and was named "Most Surprising Player" in the nation by the publication.