Sept. 9, 2011
Wayzata, Minn. - The men's golf team will kick off its 2011-12 campaign at the seventh annual Gopher Invitational Sept. 11-12 at the Spring Hill Golf Club. Host Minnesota will welcome 13 teams to the par-72, 7,020-yard course.
The Big Ten will be the most represented conference among the 10 featured in the tournament. Joining Penn State and Minnesota from the Big Ten are Iowa and Wisconsin. Other teams include Liberty, North Texas, Santa Clara, Houston, Southern Methodist, Lamar, Arkansas, Kent State, Notre Dame and Charlotte.
Penn State is among the five teams making their tournament debut. The remaining nine teams have participated in the tournament at least two times, with three programs including Minnesota ('05), Lamar (`07) and SMU ('09) having captured the tournament title.
The Nittany Lion lineup will consist of senior Tommy McDonagh (East Norfolk, Conn.) juniors Jay Woodward (Bridgeport, W.Va.), Ernesto Marin (Miami, Fla.) and Anthony DeGol (Hollidaysburg, Pa.) and sophomore Shane Stewart (Dublin, Ohio) who will be making his collegiate debut.
Last season, McDonagh participated in 10 of the 11 team tournaments, holding a 75.62 round average. Woodward established himself as a true contender to the lineup in the final fall tournament of the '10 season. In his first collegiate tournament, Woodward posted a two-round 139 to place second for the Nittany Lions. He participated in 17 rounds for the season averaging a 75.47 per round. Marin held the teams second lowest round average, posting a 75.32 for the 22 rounds he played during the season. DeGol joined the team as a walk-on last season and played in eight of the 11 tournaments, holding a 75.38 round average.
The first two rounds will be contested Sunday, with an 8: 00 a.m. shotgun start for the first round. The final round will begin Monday with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Live scoring for the event can be found at GolfStat.