March 13, 2011

VILLAGE OF PINEHURST, N.C. – Sophomore Robert Hoadley shot a 5-under-par 67 – the third-best round by any individual in the 54-hole tournament – to lead the UNCG men's golf team's advancement from seventh place to fifth in the final standings of the 16-team Pinehurst Intercollegiate on Sunday.

Hoadley, an All-Southern Conference selection as a freshman and more recently a semifinalist for the prestigious Sullivan Award, tied his career-best score, established twice in the fall of 2010. The performance elevated him to a sixth-place tie among individuals and paced the Spartans team, which tied for fourth in Sunday's play and claimed a top-5 finish in the Pinehurst event for the second straight year.

UNCG finished with a score of 886 for the weekend. That's one shot better than the Spartans' showing in 2010, when they tied for third.

Hoadley was one of two Spartans in the top 10. Redshirt junior Kyle Sonday, participating as an unattached individual, delivered the best tournament of his college career. His effort surpassed his previous best standing, a 22nd-place tie in the Reunion Intercollegiate in Madison, Miss., in the spring of 2009.

UNCG also got prominent tournaments from Will Almand, who tied for 16th, and Andy Knox, who tied for 22nd.

The Spartans are back in action at the C&F Bank Intercollegiate in Williamsburg, Va., on March 21-22.

PINEHURST INTERCOLLEGIATE PRESENTED BY GATORADE
Pinehust No. 6, Pinehurst Resort (Par-72, 6,904 yards)

Team scores
1. UNC Wilmington 301-284-288—873; 2. Virginia Tech-297-289-293—879; T3. Penn State-293-301-288—882; T3. VCU 297-294-291—882; 5. UNCG-297-298-291—886; 6. Michigan State-293-297-301—891; 7. Richmond 295-302-296—893; 8. Radford 300-306-290—896; 9. Eastern Michigan 291-303-306-900; T10. Marshall 300-300-302—902; T10. Xavier 303-305-294—902; 12. Old Dominion 298-303-308—909; 13. Belmont 312-302-305—919; 14. Francis Marion 307-304-310—921; 15. Eastern Kentucky 309-329-303—941; 16. Western Illinois 315-314-313—942.

Individual scores
Top 10: T1. Josh Brock (UNC Wilmington) 74-69-69—212; T1. Matt Ball, Jr. (VCU) 74-72-66---212; T3. T.J. Howe (Penn State) 70-75-68—213; T3. Casey Olsen (Eastern Michigan) 72-69-72—213; 5. Blake Redmond (Virginia Tech) 74-72-69—215; T6. Bosten Miller (Marshall) 71-73-72—216; T6. Robert Hoadley (UNCG) 75-74-67—216; T8. James Ross (Michigan State) 74-72-71—217; T8. Kyle Sonday * (UNCG) 73-70-74—217; T8. Mark Jargren (VCU) 78-70-69—217; T8. Ryan Nagy * (UNC Wilmington) 72-70-75—217.

Other UNCG golfers:  T16. Will Almand 72-73-76—221; T22, Andy Knox 70-79-73—222; T47. Colin Chapman 80-74-75—229; T74. Justin Clement 81-77-81—239; T80. Matt Younts * 84-73-85—242.

* Competing as an unattached participant

- UNCG -