Feb. 9, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The men's golf team will travel south to compete in the third annual Big Ten Match Play Championship at the prestigious Champion Course at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Friday and Saturday.
The event, which is rated by Golf Digest as the 12th strongest field of the spring golf season, will feature all 11 of the Big Ten schools. Matches are set based on end-of-fall season ranking. Each school will have a six-member team competing on the par 72, 7,048-yard field.
After a forced withdrawal due to severe weather conditions last spring, the Penn State men's golf team looks forward to taking the field this year with the fierce competition the event will offer including Golfstat Ranked teams such as No. 8 Illinois and No. 11 Iowa.
The Penn State lineup is composed of senior and 2010 GCAA All-American T.J. Howe (Osceola, Pa), senior Tommy McDonagh (East Norwalk, Conn.), and four sophomores, Anthony DeGol (Hollidasyburg, Pa.), Ernie Marin (Miami, Fla.), Matthew Porter (Cortland, N.Y.), and Jay Woodward (Bridgeport, W.Va.).
The Nittany Lions are seeded eighth for the event. They will match up against Minnesota in the first round, which is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. on Friday morning.
For the first time, the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) will be partnering with the Big Ten Match Play to administrate the event as well as to provide tournament operations, equipment, live scoring and rules officials.
The event will be filmed by the Big Ten Network and aired as a highlight show various times throughout the year starting in early March 2011. Live scoring will be available at the AJGA website. For further information on Penn State golfers, please visit GoPSUsports.com.