Daniels, W. Va. – Tyler Bidwell concluded his third and final round at the 2009 NCAA Division II East/Atlantic Regional tournament Wednesday, May 6, hosted by the WVIAC and Concord University at the Resort at Glade Springs. He finished tied for 45th place with a tournament total of 241 strokes after shooting an 81 Wednesday. 

Bidwell opened his final round in a tie for 41st place out of 106 competitors after the completion of two rounds. The third and final round began with a shotgun start at 11 a.m., with Bidwell in pairing No. 11 with three other individual qualifiers. He opened the round on the eighth hole due to the unusual starting configuration. He shot three over par for the first nine holes of his round. Bidwell then bogeyed on 17 and 18, leaving him five over par with 11 holes left. 

He then registered a double bogey and two bogeys to push his score to +9 with three left. Bidwell shot even par for the remainder of his round, ending with a third-round total of 81 strokes, matching his score from Tuesday. 

Bidwell's 45th-place finish was the ninth best out of 17 competitors from the PSAC. Additionally, he was the second best out of the eight individual golfers not competing for a team at the tournament. 

A total of 22 golfers have qualified for the NCAA Division II National Tournament from the East/Atlantic meet. Indiana (Pa.) won the team championship with 915 strokes. Also qualifying for nationals were: Fayetteville State, host institution Concord, Fairmont State, and St. Thomas Aquinas, who finished in second through fifth places. Individually, Brett Kummerfeld from Adelphi earns a spot at nationals with his fourth-place finish, and Sean Burke from Ohio Valley tied for fifth place and will compete at nationals.

Emmanuel Charmat from Concord won medalist honors with a 54-hole score of 224. IUP's Leo Acklin and Fayatteville State's Joel Lynn tied for second with 225 strokes. 

The three programs competing from the PSAC were headlined by IUP's team championship. Clarion finished in 11th place, while Cal (Pa.) took 16th place out of20 total teams. In addition to Bidwell's 45th-place performance, Millersville's Darren Deshong tied for 51st place with a tournament score of 242. 

Bidwell has completed the most successful individual season performance for a Mercyhurst men's golfer since Dave Hewett's senior season of 1987, which marked the last time a Lakers golfer reached the NCAA regional level.