The Chattanooga Mocs men’s golf team is off an amazing run to the NCAA Championships. They got more good news while in Scottsdale, Ariz., with the release of the 2023 NCAA Division I PING All-East Region squad.
Juniors Paul Conroy and John Houk took their places on 25-man squad. They’re two of five from the Southern Conference to earn PING merit with one each from ETSU (Mats Ege), Furman (Will Morlan) and Mercer (Tobias Jonsson). The Mocs were one of five schools with multiple honorees including Georgia Tech (5), North Carolina (4), Clemson (2) and Duke (2).
"Really happy for Paul and John to earn the honors of PING All-Region team," Coach Blaine Woodruff shared.
"You look at the history of players who have been selected for All-Region, and it's a pretty impressive list. It's nice for them to be rewarded for the hard work and effort they have put into their games this year, constantly trying to improve and never being satisfied."
The duo are the first Mocs on the All-Region squad since 2013 when U.S. Amateur Champ Steven Fox and Chris Robb claimed their spots. Conroy and Houk are the 13th and 14th all-time in program history. It’s the sixth time with multiple selections.
Conroy (71.26) and Houk (71.36) flirted with setting the program’s season scoring record held by PGA Tour pro Stephan Jaeger ’12. Jaeger’s mark of 71.14 survived with Conroy and Houk slotted second and third ahead of former All-American Jonathan Hodge ’09 who entered the UTC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.
Conroy (-8) and Houk (-4) joined another prestigious list for the Mocs. They authored just the fourth and fifth under-par campaigns in school history. They joined Hodge and Jaeger there as well. Hodge played 2007-08 at 9 under, while Jaeger did it twice with a 1-under tally in 2010-11 followed by 22 under in 2011-12.
PING All-East Region
Michael Brennan, Wake Forest
Ryan Burnett, North Carolina
Paul Conroy, Chattanooga
Mats Ege, East Tennessee State
David Ford, North Carolina
Bartley Forrester, Georgia Tech
Austin Greaser, North Carolina
Alex Heffner, Davidson
John Houk, Chattanooga
Connor Howe, Georgia Tech
Walker Isley, UNC Wilmington
Ben James, Virginia
Tobias Jonsson, Mercer
Christo Lamprecht, Georgia Tech
William Love, Duke
Nick Lyerly, UNC Greensboro
Dylan Menante, North Carolina
Will Morlan, Furman
Kian Rose, Clemson
Luke Sample, Duke
Ross Steelman, Georgia Tech
Maxmilian Steinlechner, NC State
Andrew Swanson, Clemson
Hiroshi Tai, Georgia Tech
Jonathan Yaun, Liberty
PING All-East Region History
2008: Jonathan Hodge, Derek Rende
2009: Stephan Jaeger, Derek Rende, Ben Rickett
2010: Stephan Jaeger, Derek Rende
2011: Stephan Jaeger
2012: Steven Fox, Stephan Jaeger
2013: Steven Fox, Chris Robb
2023: Paul Conroy, John Houk