May 19, 2004

HOUSTON - University of Houston golfer Zach Mowbray begins his first-ever NCAA postseason when he complete at the NCAA Central Regional in West Lafayette, Ind., on Thursday.

Mowbray joins 137 other golfers on the 7,259-yard, par-72 course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex. He was one of six individuals invited to compete at the annual postseason event.

A native of Mesa, Ariz., Mowbray earned the berth in the postseason after emerging as one of the Cougars' most consistent performers. He led the Cougars in five of the team's last six tournaments and topped all players with a 73.1 scoring average, more than a full stroke better than his closest competitor on the team.

This marked the 16th consecutive year that UH as a team or at least one Cougar golfer has qualified for the NCAA postseason. A year ago, Brett Callas became only the second player in school history to win the NCAA Regional individual championship.

In addition to Mowbray, Mike Mezei (Texas-San Antonio), Tom Johnson (Northwestern), Jeremy Lyons (Iowa State), Zach Atkinson (North Texas) and Brandon Brown (Eastern Kentucky) were invited to compete as individuals.

Teams scheduled to compete at the Regional are Oklahoma State, Texas, TCU, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tulsa, Colorado, SMU, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Xavier, Illinois, Ohio State, Purdue, Kent State, Wichita State, Indiana, Lamar, Notre Dame, Princeton, Western Illinois and Jackson State.

The top 10 teams and top two individuals not on those teams will advance to the 2004 NCAA Mens's Golf Championships on June 1-4 in Hot Springs, Va.

-UH-