April 28, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's golf team will open postseason play this weekend at the Big Ten Championships at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind. The three-day, 72-hole tournament will take place April 29-May 1 on the par-72, 7,465-yard Kampen Course.
This year, the Nittany Lions' spring schedule allotted a weekend between regular season play and postseason play to prepare for the challenging field awaiting them at Purdue. The last time Penn State was seen on this course was in 2009 at the Boilermaker Invitational where the Lions finished in second place. The team will return two members of the 2009 lineup to the familiar layout including senior T.J. Howe (Osceola, Pa.) and junior Nick Archambault (Q.C., Canada). In the 2009 tournament, Howe carded rounds of 73-75-76 (224). The talented senior will look to improve these scores this weekend and compete at the high level he has displayed throughout the entire season. Archambault posted rounds of 76-70-73 (219) during his last appearance at the course. Aside from competing as an individual at the Rutherford Intercollegiate hosted by Penn State, this will be Archambault's season debut. The junior's knowledge of the course and his competitive play late in the spring season have awarded him a slot in this weekend's lineup.
"We have two players, Nick and T.J., that have played the Purdue Kampen Golf Course either when we played there in the NCAA Finals or the Boilermaker Intercollegiate," said Coach Nye. "Their experience shared with our other guys will have value to the understanding of how this golf course is set up for competition and play in differing weather conditions."
Completing the Penn State lineup are senior Tommy McDonagh (East Norwalk, Conn.) and sophomores Anthony DeGol (Hollidaysburg, Pa.) and Jay Woodward (Bridgeport, W.Va.).
The complete field will consist of (most recent Golfweek ranking) Illinois (13), Indiana (36), Iowa (17), Michigan (52), Michigan State (148), Minnesota (78), Northwestern (5), Ohio State (28), Penn State (72), Purdue (53) and Wisconsin (181). The last time all of the Big Ten teams met was in the spring premier tournament, the Big Ten Match Play in Coral Springs, Fla. Northwestern took the tournament title followed by Indiana in second.
The field will also feature 14 individuals who were placed in the most recent top 100 Golfweek rankings including: No. 7 Vince India (Iowa), No. 20 Luke Guthrie (Illinois), No. 26 Alexander Sitompul (Michigan), No. 45 David Gersztein (Purdue), No. 51 Michael McGee (Indiana), No. 53 Scott Langley (Illinois), No. 70 Jonathan Hauter (Illinois), No. 70 Donald Constable (Minnesota), No. 72 Ravi Patel (Northwestern), No. 74 Lion Kim (Michigan), No. 78 David Lipsky (Northwestern) No. 79 Brad Hopfinger (Iowa), No. 84 Bo Hoag (Ohio State) and No. 92 Chris Deforest (Illinois).
The first two rounds of the Big Ten Championships will be played Friday with an 8 a.m. start time. Saturday and Sunday will feature 18 holes each with 9 a.m. and 8 a.m. starts, respectively. There will be live scoring available for the Big Ten Championships available at GolfStat.
Spring 2011 Results
Big Ten Match Play - 10/11
Pinehurst Intercollegiate - T3/16 - 293-301-288 (882)
LSU Invitational - 9/12 - 305-305-313 (923)
Rutherford Intercollegiate - 1/16 - 290-296-294 (880)
Illini Classic - 6/14 -311-292 (603)
2011 Big Ten Championship Quick Facts
Penn State Line-up: T.J. Howe, Tommy McDonagh, Nick Archambault, Anthony DeGol and Jay Woodward
Host: Purdue
Course: Kampen Course
Location: West Lafayette, Ind.
Field: Penn State, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Northwestern, Indiana, Purdue, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan State
Championship Tee Times: Friday, April 29: 8 a.m. (36 holes), Saturday, April 30: 9 a.m. (18 holes),Sunday, May 1: 8 a.m. (18 holes)
Live Scoring: GolfStat