Men's Golf Begins Fall Play At Inverness Intercollegiate
9/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 10, 2006
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's golf team begins fall play at the Inverness Intercollegiate (Sept. 11-12), hosted by Toledo at the 7,225-yard, par-71 Inverness Club. Founded in 1903 the Inverness Club, along with Toledo, will serve as host for the 2009 NCAA Men's Golf Championships. Inverness has hosted four U.S. Opens, one U.S. Amateur, one U.S. Senior Open and two PGA Championships. MSU has competed at Inverness the past four years, posting two top-three finishes in that span.
Headlining the 15-team field will be two schools that finished in the top 10 at the 2006 NCAA Championships - national runner-up Florida and sixth-place Georgia. The Gators (298-295-287--880) captured its second Inverness title last year by rallying from 12 strokes down after the second round to edge out USC (289-292-302--883) and Texas (305-286-297--888).
Three more teams that finished in the top 20 of last year's NCAA Championships field - Texas A&M (14th), Coastal Carolina (16th) and UNLV (19th), will be competing in the event as well. Also making up the field are 2006 NCAA Regional participants Florida State, Kent State, Nebraska, New Mexico, Southern Cal and Texas Christian as well as Illinois, Michigan State, Virginia Tech and host Toledo.
"Inverness will be hosting the 2009 NCAA Championships, and with that, there are several elite programs that will be in the field of competition," MSU head coach Mark Hankins stated.
Competing for the Spartans in the season-opening tournament will be senior Matt Harmon, junior Ryan Brehm, sophomores Steve Cuzzort and Randy Hutchison and freshman Jack Newman.
"Matt (Harmon) and Ryan (Brehm) have distinguished themselves as the top two players and leaders on this team," Hankins said. "Matt has played this course three times and Ryan twice, so with their experience here, and their overall career experience, I expect to see them do well."
"This will be Jack's (Newman) first tournament, so it will be fun to see how he does," Hankins added. "Our players have been working hard in preparation and we are excited to start play."
The event will begin Monday, Sept. 11 with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. for the first 36 holes and concludes with the final 18 holes, beginning at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
In addition to the tournament, the Spartans also have a visit with Michigan State alumnus and former captain of the Spartan golf team, world-renowned golf course architect Arthur Hills scheduled in their trip.
Hills has been involved in the design of 180 new courses in North America, Europe and Asia, and has worked on renovations to more than 120 courses, including Inverness.
"Arthur is a great guy and continues to maintain strong connections with Michigan State," Hankins said. "He also still gets out and chips and putts. It is going to be a neat experience for our team."
Players Mentioned
