April 6, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - The Penn State men's golf team heads to Columbus, Ohio this weekend to compete in the 40th annual Kepler Intercollegiate, hosted by Big Ten rivals the Ohio State Buckeyes. The tournament will be held Sat., April 11th and Sun., April 12th.
The Nittany Lions head to the 7,455-yard, par-71 Ohio State Scarlet Course after taking first place at the Pinehurst Intercollegiate. The Lions look to continue their impeccable play and win their first ever Kepler Intercollegiate title.
Juniors T.J. Howe (Osceola, Pa.), Kevin Foley (Sommerville, N.J.) and senior Matt Leon (Ontario, Canada) head into the tournament with familiarity of the course after placing sixth in last year's Kepler Intercollegiate. The Nittany Lions placed sixth in a 14-team field, which included five teams ranked in the top 40.
Howe played exceptional golf at the Scarlet Course last tying for second place. With his first place finish at this year's Pinehurst Intercollegiate Howe earned Big Ten men's golfer of the week honors. His final round of 67 broke the tournament record and stands as the lowest round in his Lion career. With Kepler being the first tournament since his Pinehurst title, Howe looks to compete at the same level as recent tournaments.
The two-day, 54-hole tournament begins with rounds one and two on Saturday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. Sunday will hold the final round with players teeing off at No. 1 and No. 10 starting at 8:30 a.m. The 14-team field includes East Tennessee State, Eastern Michigan, Iowa , Kent State, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State , Minnesota, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Temple, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Wisconsin.
Fans can visit golfstat.com for round-by-round scoring and results.