Marquette University Athletics
Golfers Charge into Conference USA Championships
4/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 21, 2002
The Marquette men's golf team plays in its final tournament of the season, the Conference USA Championships. Marquette and the rest of the 14-team field will try to knock off five-time defending champion Houston. The Golden Eagles will also try to improve upon their seventh place finish from a season ago.
Tournament Format and Field
Three 18-hole rounds will complete the 2002 C-USA Championships. One 18-hole round will be contested each day. All conference teams will be named following the event.
All 14 C-USA teams field men's golf squads. Joining Marquette are Charlotte, Cincinnati, DePaul, East Carolina, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Saint Louis, South Florida, Southern Miss, TCU, Tulane and UAB. Teams will field five golfers and count the four best scores of each round towards the final team score.
The Club at Hidden Creek
The Club at Hidden Creek was built on rolling terrain and has tree-lined fairways. The signature hole is no. 11, a 382-yard, par 4, featuring a short dogleg left fairway that is cut out of pines and plays to a large kidney-bean-shaped green. In 1993, Pensacola News Journal Readers Choice Poll rated this course as the "Best Golf Course in Northwest Florida."
Designed by Ron Garl in 1988, the course has played host to qualifying rounds for the U.S. Open. The course is hosting the C-USA Tournament
Last Time at the Conference USA Championships
Houston won their fifth-consecutive C-USA crown last season. Charlotte, in the league's first year, is the only other team to win the conference crown. Houston was just one of two teams to shoot under 300 in each of its three rounds. The Cougars combined for an eight-over 872 total. UAB also shot three sub-300 rounds, but ended 16 shots behind Houston at 24-over (888). Only four other teams posted better scores over the last 18 holes than did Marquette. The Golden Eagles' seventh place finish was the second time the team has finished seventh (1997) and was the best-ever finish for MU at a C-USA Men's Golf Championship.
Last Time Out
Marquette concluded its regular season with a 12th place finish in the Billiken Invitational. The Golden Eagles shot a second round 301, its best total since three sub 300 rounds at the Kauai Collegiate Cup.
Freshman Nathan Colson accomplished a feat he had flirted with all season. He obtained individual medalist honors with a 217, winning by one stroke. He was in second, one shot off the pace, heading into the final round where he carded a 74 in difficult playing conditions.
The Lineup
Participating for MU are Nate Colson (freshman, Plymouth, Wis.), Matt Hilton (junior, Muskego, Wis.), Jason Gaare (freshman, Elmhurst, Ill.), Mike Everson (junior, Muskego, Wis.) and Justin Christensen (freshman, Sioux Falls, S.D.).
Colson leads Marquette in scoring average with a 74.26 and has been the top finisher for the Golden Eagles in all of but two of their tournaments this season.
