Men's Golf to Challenge the Nation's Best at Inverness Intercollegiate

Men's Golf to Challenge the Nation's Best at Inverness Intercollegiate

Inverness Intercollegiate

The Inverness Club

Toledo, Ohio

Dates: Sept. 19-20

Par: 71

Yardage: 7,255

Total Holes: 54

Format: 36 holes Fri., 18 holes Sat.

The Field: (15) Kansas State, Augusta State, Duke, Central Florida, Kent State, Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Toledo, UCLA

K-State Lineup

Name Yr-Exp RNDS Avg.

Aaron Watkins Sr-3L 1 71.5

Josh Persons So-1L 1 72.0

Matt Van Cleave Jr-1L 1 74.5

Greg Douglas Sr-2L 1 76.0

A.J. Elgert Sr-3L 1 76.5

Bound for Toledo

The Kansas State men's golf team will travel to Toledo, Ohio, for its second appearance in as many years at the third-annual Inverness Intercollegiate Invitational. The Wildcats will look to parlay its third-place finish one year ago, into a even better showing this year.

Championship Links

The Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, has played host to some of the most premier events in all of golf, including the 2003 U.S. Senior Open. The club has hosted four U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and one U.S Amateur.

The Field

This year's field at the 2003 Inverness Intercollegiate Invitational is stacked. Out of the 15 teams entered in this weekends tournament, 12 competed in NCAA Regional competition during 2003.

The Inverness will also feature six teams that qualified for the 2003 NCAA Championships, including Augusta St., Duke, Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico and UCLA.

Consistent Lineup

The Cats will use the same five golfers in Toledo that represented Kansas State at the Badger Invitational. The squad is comprised of senior co-captains Aaron Watkins and A.J. Elgert, senior Greg Douglas, and junior Matt Van Cleave and sophomore Josh Parsons.

Strong Start

The second-place finish by the Cats at the Badger Invitational was its best start to a fall season since K-State finished second at the Baker Invitational way back on September 20, 1991.

With rain cutting the Badger Invitational down from 54 holes to 36 holes, the Wildcats weathered the storm and finished a mere three-strokes back of tournament champion UNC-Wilmington, which fired a 585.

Individually, Aaron Watkins and Josh Persons carried their successful summer at the U.S. Amateur into the Wildcats' first collegiate competion of the season. Watkins finished in a tie for second after carding a 70-73143, three strokes back of individual champion Craig Revel of Michigan State, who scored a 70-70140 at the invitational. Persons shot at par each day and finished in a tie for fourth with a consistent 72-72144. Also placing in the top 10 was senior Matt Van Cleave, who posted a 75-74149.

Moving up the Ladder

Under the guidance of seventh year coach Tim Norris, the Cats continue to improve its final ranking with the rest of the country. The Wildcats have marked improvement in its final ranking for the last three seasons. The Cats have moved up from No. 106 in the 2000-01 Golfweek/Sagarin rankings to No. 55 at the end of the 2002-03 season.

Last Year at the Inverness

The Florida Gators came away with an easy victory at the 2002 Inverness Intercollegiate Invitational, finishing at 878 overall, nine strokes ahead of second-place Oklahoma State. Kansas State finished in a tie for third with Michigan, shooting a combined 889 for the tournament.

Individually, Greg Douglas led the Wildcats, finishing in seventh-place with a score of 74-74-71219, just four strokes off of the pace of individual champion Camilo Villegas of Florida.