Men's Golf To Make First Appearance At Gopher Invitational
9/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 14, 2006
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's golf team travels to Minneapolis, Minn., for the Gopher Invitational, Sept. 16-17, its second tournament of the season. Minnesota, the 2002 NCAA Champion, is set to host the 54-hole tournament at the par-72, 7,020-yard Spring Hill Golf Club. The first two rounds will begin on Saturday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start and the second round will be continuous play following first round and Sunday's final round will be a hole #1 and #10 split-tee start at 7:30 a.m. The format will be five players per team, counting the lowest four scores.
The 12-team field features four Big Ten foes: Minnesota, Indiana, Northwestern, and Ohio State. The Golden Gophers finished third at last year's NCAA Championship and are ranked No. 15 in the Golfweek preseason poll, while Northwestern captured the 2006 Big Ten crown and is ranked No. 24. In addition, Lamar (No. 20) and Stanford (No. 21) are also ranked in the preseason top 25. The remainder of the field includes Georgia Southern, SMU, Denver, Notre Dame and Finland.
"We haven't played at Spring Hill Golf Club before, so we need to make adjustments and get better as the tournament goes on," eighth-year MSU head coach Mark Hankins said. "Minnesota is a good team and has a bit of an advantage being the host team, but we want to stay close in the first couple rounds and try to win on Sunday."
Coming off a short practice week after competing at the Inverness Intercollegiate (Sept. 16-17), the Spartans will send six players to Minnesota. Junior Ryan Brehm, senior Matt Harmon and sophomore Randy Hutchison are slated in the lineup. The other two holes in the lineup will be decided in a playoff on Friday afternoon between the remaining three members of the traveling party, sophomores Steve Cuzzort, Grant Tungate and freshman Jack Newman.
"Last week, at the Inverness, we improved each round, but were a little rusty," Hankins said. "It was a hard course and the players battled their nerves but, based on that, I think we're prepared for this weekend."
Players Mentioned
