Men's Golf to Open SEC Championship Friday

April 15, 2009

SAINT SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. - The Auburn men's golf team will be making its 47th appearance in the SEC Golf Tournament at the par-72, 7,331-yard Frederica Golf Club in Saint Simons Island, Ga., April 17-19.

Senior Glenn Northcutt will make his 10th start of the season and his ninth in the No. 1 position. Junior Cole Moreland will start in the No. 2 slot, followed by freshman Kyle Kopsick at No. 3, senior Keith White at No. 4 and freshman Will McCurdy at No. 5.

The field includes top-ranked Georgia followed by No. 7 Alabama, No. 11 Florida, No. 13 Arkansas, No. 14 South Carolina, No. 18 Tennessee, No. 25 LSU, Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.

"We are accustomed to being nationally ranked going into the SEC Championships each season," said head coach Mike Griffin. "This year has been a little different with our squad currently being ranked 52nd in the Golfstat poll. There are no fewer than seven teams in the SEC currently ranked within the Top 30 this year. Georgia is ranked No. 1 to lead the teams, and is surely the pre-tournament favorite.

"There are many individuals who could take the individual title this year, and our most likely candidate would be Glenn Northcutt. Cole Moreland has enjoyed some good success this season, and I hope he carries it to the tournament with him. Beyond that anything can happen. We are going over, as always, to win the Championship. Someone is going to win, and most will lose. We just want our best performance of the year from each of our players. If we can come away knowing that we played our best, we will be competitive."

Following a Thursday practice round, the Tigers will tee off from the No. 1 hole for the opening round beginning at 8:50 a.m. on Friday.

Live scoring will be available at www.golfstat.com. All daily and final results will also be posted at www.SECsports.com.

The SEC Championship will also be featured on the Thursday, April 23, edition of SEC-TV at 5:30 p.m. CT on FSN South, FSN Southwest and SUN Sports. The show will include taped highlights and interviews.