49ers golfers ranked 10th in country

Released by the Charlotte 49ers' Sports Information office today:

The Charlotte 49ers golf team has been ranked 10th in the Golf World/Nike Pre-Season Div. I Coaches’ Poll released today. The 49ers placed third at the 2007 NCAA Championships and have advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three years. Charlotte returns four of the five players that competed at the NCAA Championships and five of their top seven players overall.

Among the top returnees are senior Andrew DiBitetto (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) and sophomore Corey Nagy (Charlotte, N.C./Vance), who were both named to Golf World’s Top 50 “Players to Watch”.

“I could not be more proud of what our players were able to accomplish last season and while it was tough to lose (graduated seniors) Matt (Mincer) and Ray (Sheedy), our squad this year is justifiably excited about the coming season and eager to get going,” two-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Jamie Green said.

“It’s a terrific honor to have fellow coaches realize the potential of your team and while we are anticipating success my hope is that we become better and better as the year goes on and are able to make a nice run in May, again.”

DiBitetto, the individual runner-up at the 2007 Atlantic 10 Championships, placed ninth at the NCAA Championships and earned PING Honorable Mention all-America honors by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA). He owns a school-record 72.88 career scoring average, which includes last year’s 72.8 mark.

Nagy, the 49ers first-ever Freshman all-America, was also a PING Honorable Mention all-America by the GCAA and placed 35th at the National Championships. Also an all-Atlantic 10 choice, Nagy placed tied for third at the A-10 Championships, helping the Niners to their second straight A-10 crown. He posted a 72.2 stroke average, last season and this summer made more waves by reaching the semifinals of the US Amateur Public Links.

The duo will be joined by senior Jonas Enander Hedin (Taby, Sweden; Tibble Gymnasium), an all-Atlantic 10 choice who led the 49ers with a 71.86 stroke average, senior Trevor Murphy (St, Johnsbury, Vt./Burke Academy), who reached the round of 32 at the 2007 US Amateur after finishing fourth in the qualifying rounds and won both the Vermont Open and the Vermont Amateur, this summer, and junior Stefan Wiedergruen (Waiblingen, Germany/Salier Gymnasium), who ranked third on the team with a 72.5 stroke average.

Charlotte has advanced to the NCAA Regional Tournament each of the last three years and moved through the regionals to the 30-team NCAA Championships in each of the last two. This past year, the golfers matched the university’s best-ever NCAA Tournament finish with a third-place showing behind Stanford and Georgia. The previous season, in their first-ever trip to the NCAA Championships, the 49ers placed 22nd in the nation.