Utley Named To PING All-Mid Atlantic Region Team
06/04/2006 | Men's Golf
June 5, 2006
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond sophomore Jordan Utley was named to the 15-member PING All-Mid Atlantic Region Team, the Golf Coaches Association of American announced.
The Richmond, Va. native led the Spiders with a 73.6 scoring average and nine sub-par rounds. Utley led Richmond in six of 13 tournaments and finished four events under par. His best finish of the year was taking second at Yale's Macdonald Cup, one of five top-five finishes for the sophomore. He finished in the top-three in three tournaments and finished in the top-25 nine times.
"It's great for Jordan to be recognized for is solid play over the entire year," Richmond head coach Adam Decker said. "I am excited at the prospect of two more years with Jordan on the team.
Utley finished ninth at the 2006 Atlantic 10 Championship to earn all-conference honors. He had the lead after both the first and second rounds, having shot 4-under-par 68s in both. He finished the tournament at 4-under-par 212.
He was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week twice this spring, after finishing fourth at Penn State's Rutherford Intercollegiate and taking third at Towson's Drew Upton Memorial.
Richmond qualified for the NCAA Golf Championships in 2006, playing in the NCAA East Regional. It was the Spiders' first NCAA appearance since 2001 and the school's fourth NCAA bid in school history. The Spiders had a successful first-year under Decker, winning two tournaments and finishing fourth out of 13 schools at the 2006 Atlantic 10 Championships.
Richmond went to the NCAAs with a young squad, having just one senior (Tyler Randol) play in a tournament in 2005-06. The Spiders will have just one senior on next year's roster (John Pelet) and will return six players who played in at least four tournaments.