MOBILE, Ala. ? University of South Alabama head men’s golf coach Ben Hannan released Wednesday the program’s 2008-09 schedule, a slate that includes visits to top tournaments throughout the Gulf Coast region.
In addition to hosting events during both the fall and spring seasons, the Jaguars will participate in tournaments hosted by Central Florida, Memphis, Mississippi, South Florida and Vanderbilt.
“The two home tournaments really help set up our entire schedule the way we want it,” Hannan stated. “The first event isn’t a standard format, so I’ll be able to allow more of our guys to play early. I think that’s important since we are a young ? but hopefully talented ? team.”
The campaign will begin Sept. 15-16 when USA plays host to the Palmer’s Toyota Fall Intercollegiate at the Azalea City Golf Club. The field consists of 13 schools including Austin Peay, Belmont, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, New Orleans, Nicholls State, South Florida, Tennessee State, Troy and West Florida. The Jags finished second in the event last fall.
The Jaguars will then participate in back-to-back events in Tennessee, returning to action at the Mason Rudolph Intercollegiate hosted by Vanderbilt Sept. 26-28 before taking part in the Memphis Intercollegiate on Oct. 6-7. A week later they will play in the Squire Creek Intercollegiate, which will be hosted by Louisiana Tech in Ruston, before closing out the fall semester Oct. 27-28 at the Bridgestone Collegiate Invitational in Greensboro, N.C.
USA will play in the first of four regular-season spring events Feb. 23-24 at the Rio Pinar Invitational in Orlando, Fla., which will be hosted by UCF. South Florida will play host to the USF Collegiate Invitational March 6-8 in Tampa, while two weeks later the Jaguars will compete in the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate on March 22-24. The event, which USA will host at the Magnolia Grove Golf Course, has a field that includes Akron, Arkansas State, Hartford, Illinois State, Louisiana Tech, Memphis, Mississippi State, New Mexico State, Richmond, USF, Southern Mississippi, Texas-Arlington, Toledo, Troy and Xavier.
The regular season concludes April 6-7 when USA takes part in the Ole Miss Intercollegiate in Madison, Miss.. Individuals will also have the ability to participate in the Mobile Fall Classic Nov. 3-4 and the FSCC Spring Invitational on Feb. 23-24.
“One of the reasons we added those individual events is so that we can continue to play as many guys as we can throughout the course of the year,” added Hannan. “Our schedule is set up to gain experience, it gets noticeably harder as you get further into the fall and spring seasons. Actually, from start to finish, the spring schedule is as difficult as we’ve faced recently ? we will predominantly take on Southeastern Conference schools.
“Our goal is always to win the Sun Belt championship, but if we do our jobs the schedule should set us up to advance and compete in the postseason without having to depend on winning the league tournament. We’re going to have to play well, though, to be successful with this schedule.”
The Sun Belt Conference Championships are set to be played at the Cypresswood Golf Club in Houston, Texas, April 20-22. The NCAA East Regional will be hosted by Columbia May 14-16 at the Galloway (N.J.) National Golf Club, while the NCAA Championships are slated to take place at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, May 27-30.
The Jags, who posted three top-three finishes a year ago including at the Sun Belt Championships, return three of their top four players from 2007-08. USA was ranked in the top 75 all season in the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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