NORTH LADS RANKED IN USA TOP 50

FROM THE JACKSONVILLE UNIVERSITY, FLORIDA WEBSITE
(with a little bit of extra information from Colin Farquharson)

In the 2005-2006 American college golf season, Duncan Stewart from Grantown on Spey and Russell Knox from Inverness tied for the Atlantic Sun Conference title and shattered the tournament record for scoring.
This year, Jacksonville University, Florida's senior duo from Scotland enter their final collegiate campaign in pretty heady territory - ranked among the top 50 golfers in the country according to "GolfWorld."
"This is great honour for these guys after the season they had last year," said JU head coach Jim Taketa. "Now, they have to go out and perform at this level to stay in these rankings."
Stewart (pictured left of the two), the two-time defending individual Aatlantic-Sun Champion, led the nation last year in par-3 scoring - averaging 3.0, helped greatly by a hole-in-one in the final round of the A-Sun championship. Stewart won two tournaments last year and ended the season with four top-five finishes.
During the summer, back home in Europe, he was sent by the Scottish Golf Union to compete in the Chiberta Grand Prix, a prestigious 72-holer in south-west France - and Duncan won it!
Knox, pictured far right, led the Jacksonville team in stroke average last year at 71.6 and finishing in the top 20 in all eight events that he participated. He ended the season ranked 10th in the GolfStat Cup, which ranks every player in the country.
During his summer "back home" - actually his parents have moved from Inverness to set up home in Florida - Russell played for Scotland in their defence of the European youth team championship in Spain.
Jacksonville University - "The Dolphins" - begin their Atlantic Sun title defence on Monday at the Sanctuary Cove Preview. The 36-hole event features three A-Sun rivals - Mercer, Gardner-Webb and UNF - on the same course that the conference championship will be held in April.
JU won the A-Sun title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals last year with a record score of 31-under par. Knox and Stewart tied for individual honours, shattering the tournament record by tying at 13-under par.
"This is a great event for us to start the season," said Taketa. "The opportunity to play at the course where the conference championship will be at is a great advantage for us. We've got an experienced group going up there that is focused on the task at hand."
+You can follow the exploits of Duncan Stewart, Russell Knox - and all the Scots lads and lasses on the American college golf circuit - on this website throughout the 2006-2007 season in the States.