April 17, 2008

The Colonial Athletic Association Men's and Women's Golf Championships begin on Friday morning at the Golden Horseshoe in beautiful Williamsburg, Va. The 54-hole tournaments will conclude on Sunday afternoon with the winners earning an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship. This is the first CAA Golf Championship to be held at the Golden Horseshoe.

Eleven men's teams will compete at the par 71, 6,738-yard Gold Course. The course was the site of the 2007 NCAA Men's Golf National Championship and should provide an outstanding test. The Patriots are led by senior J.J. Amoruso who led the team with a 74.7 stroke average. He carded a low round 67, a five-under par effort, at the Ironwood Pirate Intercollegiate on April 6 and finished fourth overall in the tournament. The Patriots best team effort was a runner-up finish last weekend at the Princeton Invitational. Mason will tee it up at 11:26 am.

Old Dominion is the defending CAA men's golf champion, posting a four-stroke victory over second-place Georgia State in 2007 at The Homestead's Cascades Golf Course. The Monarchs are led by senior Stan Guerrero, who has the fourth-best stroke average in the league at 73.15 headed into the championship. Junior Jeff Long (73.27) and sophomores John Murphy (73.55) and Eric Onesi (73.59) are ranked among the top nine CAA men's golfers in stroke averages.

Georgia State, which captured the CAA men's golf championship in 2006, became the first CAA team since 2002 to advance to the NCAA Golf Championships a year ago. The Panthers enter this year's tournament ranked #49 in the nation and have posted a pair of top-10 finishes in their past three events. Senior Joel Sjoholm, the 2007 CAA Golfer of the Year, is currently ranked fifth in the nation and tops the league with a 70.97 stroke average. Sophomore Tom Sherreard is second on the Panthers' squad with a 73.42 average.

CAA Tee Times for Friday, April 18 10:00 am - James Madison and Drexel 10:41 am - Georgia State, Towson, Delaware 11:26 am - George Mason, Old Dominion, VCU 12:11 am - William & Mary, UNCW, Hofstra