Marquette University Athletics
Golf Team to Open Up Spring Season
2/20/2002 12:00:00āÆAM | Men's Golf
Feb. 20, 2002
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The Marquette men's golf team will open up its spring season on Feb. 22-24 at the Ron Smith Invitational hosted by the University of South Florida in Tampa. Marquette is one of 18 teams participating in the three-day, 54-hole tournament. MU traditionally plays in this event.
Tournament Format and Field
Three 18-hole rounds will complete the 2002 Ron Smith Invitational. The first round will be held in the morning on Friday, Feb. 22. Subsequent rounds will take place on Saturday, Feb. 23 and Sunday, Feb. 24.
Joining Marquette in this year's 18-team Ron Smith Invitational are: Arkansas State, Austin Peay State, Central Florida, College of Charleston, Columbus State, DePaul, Florida Southern, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville State, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, South Alabama, Southern Miss, South Florida, Tenn.-Chattanooga, Troy State and Virginia Commonwealth. Teams will field five golfers with the four best scores of each round going toward the team score.
USF Golf Course
The USF Golf Course is known as "The Claw", for its many doglegged fairways. Built in a well wooded area, with lots of water to keep golfers honest, this course is fairly challenging and scenic. The course was built out of a swamp that lies in play in certain areas.
An on campus facility, USF Golf Course will serve as the host of the Ron Smith Invitational. The course plays to 6,830 yards and is a par 71. The front nine has a pair of par fives and par threes, with the 522-yard third hole being the longest. The back nine has just one par five on the 538-yard 14th hole before finishing with a par four, a 185-yard par three, and a pair of challenging par fours.
Last Time at the Ron Smith Intercollegiate
Last season, the College of Charleston swept the team and individual honors at the Ron Smith. Charletson set the tone with a 279 in the first round and posted a three-round, seven-over 859. McDonald fired a three under 68 for the first round lead, finishing even on the last two rounds. Marquette finished the event in 16th place with a 941. Leading the way for MU was Brad White, who finished in 58th place with a score of 233. Last Time Out
Freshman golfer Nathan Colson finished his strong first season placing in fifth at the John Piper Intercollegiate. Colson shot a 74 in the final day, the best score of the round, to move up in the final standings. Colson led Marquette to an 11th place finish out of 11 teams, finishing 53 shots off the pace of host Bowling Green.
Colson's three-over 219 was just six shots away from the winner, John Schones of Wright State. It was the first top-five finish of his career. Matt HIlton was MU's next best finisher in 33rd with a 229.
The Lineup
Participating for MU are Nate Colson, Matt Hilton, Jason Gaare, Mike Everson and Justin Christensen.
Colson led Marquette in the fall with a 73.2 scoring averaged and placed in the top 15 of all three of Marquette's fall tournaments. Highlighting the fall season was Colson's fifth place finish at the John Piper Intercollegiate when he carded a three-over, 219.
