(cont.) - Our volunteers have worked extremely hard to make the Landfall Tradition one of the very best tournaments in the country and to make each year's tournament better than the one before it. We believe this tournament helps our Country Club of Landfall in achieving its mission to be one of the most desirable clubs in the Carolinas. We see the Tradition as a bonus to our 1200 members who already enjoy two fine golf courses designed by golf legends Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus, two clubhouses, and an extensive tennis, fitness, and pool facility. You have the opportunity of participating in the first Landfall Tradition since completion of Phase I of our Long Range Capital Plan, which included extensive work on our practice facilities, golf courses, Nicklaus Clubhouse, and Sports Center. I believe that those of you who were present last year will notice and appreciate our improvements.
I hope that those of you who are visitors to CCL for the first time will look forward to an opportunity to return in the future, and I’m pleased that those of you who have participated in this event in years past are here again. Please enjoy CCL, the Landfall community, and greater Wilmington, NC.
Welcome to the beautiful Cape Fear Coast and the 2008 Landfall Tradition. I wish you good weather, great golf, and a terrific visit.
Randy Allran, President, Country Club of Landfall
T.J. Harvey's Wish Granted Thanks to Jim Furyk
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Like any young golfer, UNC Wilmington’s T.J. Harvey has always dreamed of the opportunity to play with her favorite golfer on one of the toughest courses in the world. Read more...
Seahawk Golfer Receives Special Invite
WILMINGTON, N.C. – UNC Wilmington women’s golf standout Carmen Perez-Narbon, a rising junior from Valencia, Spain, got the opportunity of a lifetime recently when she was invited to play in the 2008 Best Buy Charity Classic. Read more...
Four Seahawks Named NGCA Academic All-American
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Four UNC Wilmington women’s golfers, including its three seniors, were named to the National Golf Coaches Association’s All-American Scholar Team, organization officials announced. Read more...
Otteson Nails Down First Professional Win In Dramatic Fashion
MASON, OH – Former UNC Wilmington women’s golf standout Stephanie Otteson drained a 25-foot putt on the final hole to capture the championship of the $110,000 Duramed Championship Sunday just north of Cincinnati. Read more...
Tait Begins Summer Schedule In Strong Fashion
WILMINGTON, N.C. – UNC Wilmington women’s golf standout Ashley Tait has opened her summer playing tour with a bang, tying for third place in the recent HealthONE Colorado Women’s Open at Green Valley Ranch near Denver, Colo. Read more...
Shambley Honored By Cleveland Golf & GCAA
WILMINGTON, N.C. – UNC Wilmington men’s golfer Will Shambley, a rising senior, was named Cleveland Golf Academic All-America by the Golf Coaches Association of America. Read more...
Wilmington, NC – Matt Clark, who has shaped Colonial Athletic Association rival Georgia State into a nationally-recognized program over the last five years, has been named UNC Wilmington’s 11th men’s golf coach.
Clark, 32, was selected from a field of more than 60 candidates following a comprehensive national search and begins his new post later this month. He piloted the Panthers to five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances during his time in Atlanta, including Colonial Athletic Association championships in 2006 and 2008.
“Matt is one of the nation’s brightest young coaches and we’re looking forward to having him join the Seahawk family,” said Kelly Mehrtens, UNCW athletic director. “His record speaks for itself. He has done a tremendous job at Georgia State, where he had outstanding support from his athletic administration. We’re very fortunate and extremely pleased to have him lead our men’s golf program.”
A native of Prattville, Ala., Clark began his collegiate playing career at the University of South Florida before finishing up at the University of Alabama. He played two and a half seasons for the Crimson Tide and former coach Dick Spybey before joining the school’s coaching staff.
Clark worked six years in Tuscaloosa and assisted with every phase of the Crimson Tide’s program, including recruiting, travel, instruction and fund raising. He served as tournament director of the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate and the Joe Namath Celebrity Golf Classic.
The energetic Clark accepted his first head coaching post at Georgia State in 2003-04 and enjoyed instant success. The Panthers finished seventh at the NCAA East Regional and 11th at the NCAA Championship, claiming a final ranking of 14th in the Golfstat poll.
In 2004-05, Clark was named Atlantic Sun Conference Coach-of-the-Year after leading the Panthers to a fourth place finish in the NCAA East Regional and a tie for 13th at the NCAA Championship.
Clark’s impressive run at GSU continued in 2005-06 as the Panthers made their debut in the CAA. He was selected CAA Coach-of-the-Year after State captured their first CAA golf title and advanced to the NCAA East Regionals.
The Panthers advanced to the NCAA East Regionals once again in 2006-07 behind Third-Team All-American Joel Sjoholm. GSU wound up ninth in the regionals and 17th overall at the NCAA Championship.
Last year, the Panthers won their second CAA crown in three seasons behind Clark and Sjoholm. The Panthers finished 18th in the NCAA East Regionals in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Sjoholm, two-time Player-of-the-Year in the CAA, qualified for the NCAA finals with a fourth place finish individually.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” said Clark, who has coached 12 All-Conference selections. “We have the opportunity to compete at the highest level nationally and we’re going to work hard to make that a reality.
“We have a strong nucleus returning, so we’ll have great leadership. I met with two of the seniors during my visit to campus and I think that with their leadership and maturity, we’re going to surprise a lot of people throughout the nation.
“The Wilmington area is a beautiful place. When you think of the surroundings, you think of golf. I accept the challenge of also making it known for a great collegiate golf team that the university and community will be proud to call its own.”
Clark, an avid golfer with seven hole-in-ones to his credit, earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Alabama in 1997. He recently became engaged to Raleigh native Erica Wein.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT MATT CLARK:
“UNCW is going to fall in love with Matt. He brings class and a tremendous knowledge of golf to the program. Since he’s a former assistant of mine, I look forward to following the Seahawks and their progress in the years to come.”
Jay Seawell
Men’s Golf Coach
University of Alabama
Wilmington, NC–Historically, the women’s golf team has achieved tremendous success in the classroom. This year was no different. Eight players have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 and higher with 7 of them above a 3.25. Four players (Emily Klein, Alison Leeper, Ashley Tait and Liana Viljoen) have been nominated for inclusion in the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) All-Scholar team this year for their outstanding efforts in the classroom and on the playing field. Overall, the golf team has had 16 student athletes earn NGCA All-Scholar status 34 times since 1988.
As most of you know 2007-08 was also a special year on the links for The Lady Seahawks as they captured their second consecutive CAA Conference Championship title at The Golden Horseshoe Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia on April 20th. With the title, the Seahawks earned the automatic qualification to the NCAA Regional Championship at the University of Georgia. Sophomore, Carmen Perez-Narbon narrowly missed qualifying as an individual as the NCAA took the Top 2 Individual finishers not on a qualifying team and Carmen finished in the 3rd spot missing by 2 strokes. Overall, she had the best finish in school history finishing in 9th place out of 105 golfers. While the Seahawks did not qualify for the National Championship, the team did achieve its best finish in 6 attempts with a 13th place finish out of 21 teams. In 9 regular season events, the Seahawks had 2 Top 3 finishes, 4 Top 5 finishes and 7 Top 10’s. Sophomore, Carmen Perez-Narbon led the way individually with 2 tournaments wins and a scoring average of 74.36, second lowest in school history. Perez-Narbon and Ashley Tait were named First Team All-CAA and Stephanie Noser was named Second Team All-CAA.
Note From UNCW's Women's Coach, Cindy Ho:
Liana just graduated with honors- 3.94 GPA. This is the second year in a row that she has earned this distinction. Liana is following in the footsteps of 2006 graduate Michelle Jarman with earning this award twice. Liana will now be considered for the CAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year along with all the other sports winners. Jarman earned both distinctions in 2005.
By Bill Paris, Landfall Tradition Marketing Chair
March 25, 2008 –As the 2008 Landfall Tradition starts to take shape, it’s interesting to look back at where some of our Tradition alumni have gone in their pursuit of a golf career.
Clearly the biggest splash on the professional tours has been made by Dustin Johnson from Coastal Carolina. Dustin played in the 2004 and 2005 Traditions where he was the medalist in 2005. At Coastal Carolina, he was a two-time first team All American, the Big South Conference Player of the Year three times, and was ranked the number three college golfer in the nation in 2007. He qualified for the PGA tour late that year, and is already a candidate for the 2008 Rookie of the Year based on finishing 10th in the Sony Open, 37th in the Buick Invitational, 12th at the Bob Hope Desert Classic, and 7th at the AT & T Pebble Beach Open. His career earnings to date top $459,000.
Kevin Hall from Ohio State is an especially interesting Tradition Alum (2003) success story. Kevin lost his hearing from Meningitis at age two, was given the first athletic scholarship to a deaf student at Ohio State where he graduated with a degree in Journalism and won the Big Ten individual title by a record 11 strokes. He is now playing on the Hooters Tour where he won his first professional tournament at the Forest Lake Golf Club in Ocoee, FL this past January.
Women alums include Katie Fucher who played for Penn State in the initial Landfall Tradition of 2002 and was a two-time All American. Katie turned pro in 2004 and now has career earning of $209,000 with her best finish being 7th in the 2006 Master Card Classic of 2006.
Kris Tamulus from Florida State had the low round of the 2002 Tradition and turned professional in 2005 after graduating in 2003. She was 16th in the 2006 LPGA Corning Classic and has won over $183,000 to date.
The Landfall Tradition medalist of 2004 with a record that still stands was Chris Brady of Vanderbilt. Chris graduated just last year with degrees in Civil Engineering and Economics and is now playing her rookie year on the LPGA tour.
By Bill Paris, Landfall Tradition Marketing Chair
November 1, 2007 - After a Wilmington spring, summer, and fall that was short on rainfall by some 23 inches, this year’s Landfall Tradition golfers were greeted with rain the first day and wind and rain the second day of their tournament. Over 3 inches of rain fell on the Nicklaus Course during the first 48 hours of the Tournament, slowing play, soaking players, and making scoring difficult. Even so, ten players, seven men and three women, bettered par the first day, led by Nicolas Geyger of Tulsa with a 67 and Christel Boeljon of Purdue with a 68.
With the first day’s scores all in, the surprising Tulsa men’s team, in the midst of a rebuilding year after loosing its top four players to graduation and a fifth to injury, held a six shot lead over Georgia Southern. The pre tournament women’s favorite, the Purdue Boilermakers, led defending champion Virginia and its new coach Kim Lewellen, by three shots. At the end of day two, Tulsa still held the lead, this time by eleven shots over Virginia Tech, who came into the tournament with the best ranking. On the women’s side, the Wake Forest women had forged into the lead, taking a six shot lead into Sunday’s final round.
Sunday’s weather was a big improvement over the first two days of the tournament with mixed clouds, plentiful sun, and 5-10 mile an hour winds. As the day progressed, the Virginia Tech Hokies gradually narrowed the lead held by Tulsa and had a one shot lead going into the last hole. On that hole, Tulsa’s Nicolas Geyger, the tournament’s medalist at seven under par, chipped in from sixty yards for birdie lifting his team back into a tie with Virginia Tech. The tie was then broken by comparing each team’s #5 player’s score for the final day. Since Virginia Tech’s #5 player had shot 75 to Tulsa’s #5 score of 78, Virginia Tech became this year’s Landfall Tradition Men’s Champion, their first title after playing in all six Landfall Traditions. Bo Coconis of Ohio State was runner-up medalist, five shots behind Geyger.
The Wake Forest women held on to their lead over Purdue and won by nine shots at the end. The women’s medalist was Wake Forest junior Nannette Hill who edged out Maria Hernandez of Purdue and Laura Kueny of Michigan State by just one stroke.
While the weather the first two days held down galleries, their was a significant increase in Sunday’s crowd, no doubt due to the extensive media coverage provide by local television, newspapers, and GolfweekTV with its internet coverage. Several features on the Landfall Tradition can be seen by going to www.golfweektv.com and clicking on first ‘College’ and then ‘Features’ under ‘Latest News’. There is an excellent feature on UNCW’s Carmen Perez-Narbon who finished eighth overall.
Anyone may play in the Collegiate/ Amateur competition on Thursday afternoon and attend dinner that evening.
The Tournament is always looking for support. There are several levels of support that are available.
The Tournament is continually seeking the assistance of individuals, golf professionals, schools, etc.