April 27, 2007
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -
The University of Memphis men's golf team will head to Texarkana, Ark. Friday to take on conference rivals in the Conference USA Championships, which will take place April 28-30 at the Texarkana Country Club. The Tigers are looking to improve their fourth place finish from last year.
Memphis finished fourth last year out of 12 teams, and will go into the conference tournament this year looking to take home the title. Last year the Tigers shot an 856 and had three golfers finish in the Top-20. The Tigers have never won the Conference USA title.
"We are really excited about going into the conference tournament," said head coach Grant Robbins. "Everyone is playing really well right now, and we are going into this tournament with confidence. We are looking forward to getting out there and playing well and we are really looking forward to playing this weekend."
Traveling to Arkansas and the line-up for the tournament is sophomore golfer Brad Benjamin, junior Ian Rochester, freshman Brandon Bunn, junior golfer Kyle Ritchie and junior Robbie Greenwell. Last year, Benjamin finished the tournament in third and Greenwell finished the tournament in 17th. Rochester is looking to improve his 29th place finish from last year's tournament.
The 11-team field is going to be competitive, with one team in the Top-20 and three teams in the Top-50. Two teams are entering the tournament ranked in the Top-100, including Memphis, who is currently ranked 88th.
Tulsa will enter the tournament ranked 16th. University of Alabama at Birmingham is ranked 39th, University of Central Florida is ranked 41st and Southern Methodist University is ranked 46th entering this tournament. The other team ranked in the Top-100 is Houston (73).
Other teams competing in the conference tournament are East Carolina University (109), University of Texas at El Paso (134), University of Southern Mississippi (138), Rice University (143) and Marshall University (158).
The defending champion of the tournament is Southern Methodist. They shot an 845 last year to take the title. In individual competition, Will Dodson of Southern Methodist won the crown, shooting a 203.
