Barend Botha to Play in NCAA Regional at Purdue on May 13-15

TOLEDO, Ohio – Senior Barend Botha will travel to West Lafayette, Ind. on May 13-15 to compete in the NCAA Purdue Regional at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Club. Botha is ranked as the No. 4 individual in the regional after winning his second-consecutive Mid-American Conference title on Sunday in Westfield, Ind.

Botha will be competing in postseason play for the second-consecutive season after tying for 29^th place last year at the NCAA Regional in Bath, Mich. He joins Chris Selfridge as the second Rocket to compete in the NCAA Regionals on two occasions.

"I'm pretty excited to go West Lafayette and have played there twice before," Botha said. "Last year I was a little bit nervous with it being the first time I played in the Regionals. I'm ready for it this year and am just going to go out there, have fun, and enjoy the atmosphere."

A native of George, South Africa, Botha was named the MAC's Men's Golfer of the Year for a second straight year as well last weekend. He joined former Varsity T Hall of Famer Brad Heaven as the only Rockets to receive the award on multiple occasions.

Botha will be joined by 13 teams and nine other individuals. The teams competing in the Purdue regional are No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 New Mexico, No. 5 Purdue, No. 6 San Diego State, No. 7 Mississippi State, No. 8 Indiana, No. 9 College of Charleston, No. 10 Stetson, No. 11 Colorado State, No. 12 Southern Illinois, and No. 13 Tennessee Tech. The other individuals are No. 1 Caleb VanArragon (Valparaiso), No. 2 Hunter Thomson (Michigan), No. 3 Cameron Huss (Wisconsin), No. 5 Valentin Peugnet (Illinois State), No. 6 Owen Stamper (Middle Tennessee), No. 7 Alex McCulla (Illinois State), No. 8 Ty Gingerich (Cincinnati), No. 9 Luke Fuller (Western Kentucky), and No. 10 Ben Ortwein (Rider).

The Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex is located on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue University's Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex and has hosted the 2008 NCAA Men's Championships and the 2003 NCAA Women's Championships on the Pete Dye designed Kampen-Cosler Course.

The five other regional sites are in Austin, Texas; Baton Rouge, La.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Rancho Sante Fe, Calif.; and Stanford, Calif.

The top five teams and top individual not on an advancing team will move on to the NCAA Division I Championships, which will be held at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. from Friday-Wednesday, May 24-29.

Barend Botha to Play in NCAA Regional at Purdue on May 13-15

Players Mentioned

Barend Botha

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