CCU Men's Golf to Play in Kissimmee Regional

MYRTLE BEACH – The Coastal Carolina men’s golf team along with numerous fans and supporters, gathered at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club Wednesday evening as it was announced that the Chanticleers will be playing the NCAA Kissimmee Regional, which will be held May 14-16 at played at Reunion Resort in Kissimmee, Fla., and hosted by Central Florida.

In addition, NBC/Golf Channel provided live look-ins and interviewed both head coach Jim Garren and 2018 Sun Belt individual champion Morgan Deneen.

Coastal will be in the Kissimmee Regional with top-seed Vanderbilt, Florida, North Carolina, Kent State, Arizona, Purdue, Colorado State, Saint Mary’s Central Florida, Jacksonville State, Georgetown and Central Connecticut State.

CCU senior Thadd Obecny II will be able to help the Chanticleers as he played his freshman season at Central Florida and had played at the Reunion Resort.

Coastal is familiar with Kent State as the Golden Flashes played in CCU’s annual General Hackler Championship this past March. Others top play in this year’s Hackler Championship were #1 seed and Hackler champion Georgia Tech, #1 seed and Hackler runner-up Texas A&M and #1 seed LSU (finished fifth), Liberty (12th), Kentucky (4th), South Carolina (10th), Virginia (3rd) and North Carolina State (8th).

To advance to the program’s fifth NCAA Championship (May 25-30), the Chanticleers will need to finish among the top five at the Regional. Also, the top individual not on the top five teams will earn a berth to the NCAA Championship.

Coastal Carolina earned its NCAA berth by winning the 2018 Sun Belt Championship in dominating fashion. The Chanticleers won the 54-hole stroke play portion by 26 strokes to advance to match play. Coastal then defeated South Alabama, 3-2, in the semifinal before beating Georgia Southern, 4-1, to win the Sun Belt Championship.

Coastal Carolina, which won the program’s 15th conference title, will be making its 12th NCAA Regional appearance and first since 2013, which is also the last time CCU won a conference championship. Coastal has also had individuals advance to NCAA Regionals on five other occasions, the last time being in 2014 and 2015 (Andrew Dorn and Ben Wheeler).

In Garren’s first year at Coastal, the Chanticleers have turned in 13 round of par or better – the second-best season total in school history – and the team’s 290.12 stroke average to date ranks third on the program’s single season list. Also, Coastal tallied 476 birdies (sixth in CCU history) while the team’s 3.1296 scoring average on par 3’s this season is currently a CCU record.

COASTAL CAROLINA NCAA REGIONAL HISTORY

2000 NCAA Central Regional 21st-tied of 27 teams

2001 NCAA East Regional Individual only

2002 NCAA East Regional 17th of 27 teams

2003 NCAA East Regional Individual only

2004 NCAA West Regional 16th of 27 teams

2005 NCAA East Regional 8th-tied of 27 teams – Advanced to NCAA Championship

2006 NCAA East Regional 5th-tied of 27 teams – Advanced to NCAA Championship

2007 NCAA East Regional 5th-tied of 27 teams – Advanced to NCAA Championship

2008 NCAA East Regional 22nd of 27 teams

2009 NCAA Northeast Regional 11th of 14 teams

2010 NCAA Southeast Regional 11th-tied of 13 teams