Green Wave Golfers Thompson, Wheeler to Play in NCAA Regionals
May 9, 2005 | Men's Golf
May 9, 2005
NEW ORLEANS - With just three strokes separating Tulane men's golfers Michael Thompson and Chris Wheeler in 11 tournaments this year, it is only fitting that together, the two will become the Green Wave's first representatives at an NCAA Men's Golf Regional in more than 20 years.
Both Thompson and Wheeler were selected Monday to play as individuals in the 2005 NCAA East Regional in Nashville, Tenn., May 19-21. The event will be held at the Golf Club of Tennessee and features 27 teams, with just six spots handed out to individuals who were not members of a qualifying team.
"I feel great for those guys," said Tulane head coach Tom Shaw. "It's only fitting that as close as they've been the last two years, that they both be rewarded and go to regionals to continue the season."
Thompson, a sophomore from Tucson, Ariz. who won a pair of tournaments this year and has four individual titles to his credit during his collegiate career, led Tulane with a 72.7 stroke average in 2004-05 as he took 2,398 strokes to complete 33 rounds. Wheeler, meanwhile, posted a stroke average of 72.8 with 2,401 shots in 33 rounds. A year ago, just one stroke separated the two over the entire season.
Shaw said is that sustained excellence which earns the attention of the NCAA selection committee.
"You have to maintain a high quality level of play throughout the entire year and both of these guys did that this season," Shaw said. "Michael had the two victories, but Chris was very steady throughout the whole year. It's hard to get to the regionals, period. But to make it as an individual means you have to play at an extremely high level for eight months of the year."
Wheeler, a senior from Allen, Texas, was named to the Conference USA All-Decade team after earning all-league honors in each of his four seasons at Tulane, and picked up second-team All-C-USA acclaim this year. He was the runner-up at the Rio Pinar Intercollegiate in a playoff, and was Tulane's top finisher at the C-USA Championship last month. Thompson, the 2004 C-USA Freshman of the Year was a first team all-conference choice as a sophomore after winning the University Club Intercollegiate in the fall and the NOKIA Sugar Bowl Tulane Invitational this spring. The two each led Tulane in five tournaments in 2004-05, with each posting five Top 10 finishes on the year.
To Shaw, sending a pair of players to NCAA Regionals is a tribute to the entire program, which this year recorded its highest finish ever in the Conference USA Championship with a third-place showing behind only NCAA Regional teams TCU and Charlotte. The Green Wave defeated Louisville, which also received a regional nod, in the league tournament.
"It has been a long, long time since Tulane has had anyone make it to this level, so it does show we're starting to recruit a new kind of student-athlete to the men's golf program," Shaw said. "It also shows that we're a lot closer as a team to making it to regionals. We don't have a lot more pieces of the puzzle left.
"For Chris, it is his last hurrah as a collegiate golfer, but both of them are excited because you're going up against teams and players that you haven't seen - the elite teams in college golf. To play in a tournament with them and have a chance to win the national championship is a lot of fun."
Wheeler and Thompson open play in the 54-hole event May 19 in Nashville. The top 10 teams and two individuals not on advancing teams will move on from the regional to the NCAA Championship, which will be held June 1-4 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mill, Md.
-- Roll Wave --
