TicketsSept. 11, 2011
CINCINNATI- The University of Cincinnati men's golf team opens the fall season at the Marshall Invitational, Monday, Sept. 12 at the Guyan Golf and Country Club in Huntington, W. Va.
The two-day, 54-hole tournament features 36 holes of action on Monday, starting with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start, followed by final-round play on Tuesday, beginning at 8 a.m. Fifteen teams will complete, including BIG EAST Conference foe Louisville as well as Cleveland State, Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky, Northwestern, Ohio State, Ohio University, Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, Western Kentucky, William & Mary, Wright State and Xavier.
"I am very excited to get the fall season started," UC head coach Doug Martin said. "We have an experienced team, yet very young, with three juniors, a sophomore and a freshman competing in our first event. Marshall's field presents a great challenge for this team. It's is a very short course that has yielded many low scores over the tournament's history. Hopefully, this year some of those rounds will belong to the Bearcats."
The 2011-12 Bearcats squad returns six players from last season, including senior Kurt Harris (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome); juniors Zach Bates (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston), Matthew Ledom (Leawood, Kan./Rochurst Jesuit Prep), Andrew Desmarais (Union, Ky./Ryle) and David Tepe (Liberty Township, Ohio/Pickerington); and sophomore Spencer Mellon (Oakmont, Pa./Central Catholic). Martin welcomes three newcomers as well in Michael Wolf (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller), Mike Irwin (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) and Jared Howard (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome).
UC is looking to replace the contributions of 2011 all-BIG EAST Conference selection Joe Kastelic, who led the Bearcats in scoring average during three of his four seasons. Tepe and Bates rank among UC's top returners. Tepe carded four Top 20 finishes last season while compiling a 75.2 stroke average - second best on the squad behind Kastelic. Tepe's best performance came at the BIG EAST Championship where he finished ninth. Bates posted two Top 10 finishes a year ago while earning a 76.0 stroke average.