March 24, 2007

AWANDAW, S.C. -- Wake Forest will wear the bullseye this week at Bulls Bay.

The 24th-ranked Demon Deacon golf team won the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate championship here last spring. They will begin defense of that title Sunday with the first of three rounds at the par 72, 7,225-yard Bulls Bay Golf Club. Fifteen teams, including five clubs ranked in the top 25, will play 18 holes Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Last year Wake Forest won the team title with a 10-under 842. Wake's Webb Simpson finished in second place, Kyle Reifers in sixth and Doug Manchester in a career-best ninth place. Reifers and Manchester have since graduated, but junior Chris McCartin (22nd place last year) and senior Sean Moore (33rd place) are back. Sophomore Dustin Groves and freshman Brendan Gielow will also represent the Deacons this week.

Wake Forest dropped to 24th in the national standings after a 14th-place finish earlier this month at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas.

The 15-team field this week includes many of the top teams in the southeast. North Carolina (ranked 17th), Duke (22nd), Florida State (25th), NC State and Wake Forest will represent the ACC. Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina and Vanderbilt carry the SEC banner. Other teams include Augusta State, Baylor, Central Florida and Charleston.

The Deacons have just one more regular season tournament -- the U.S. Collegiate Championship April 9-11 -- before the ACC Championships.