Golfers to Begin 2006 Season at NCAA Central Regional Preview
9/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 7, 2006
MiILWAUKEE - The Marquette men's golf team begins its 2006-07 season and chase for a first-ever NCAA Tournament berth with the 2006 NCAA Central Regional Preview, hosted by Northern Illinois on September 9-10. The tournament pits teams throughout the region against one another in a competitive early season test. Teams that are likely candidates to qualify for the post-season are invited to play. This is the first time that Marquette has been invited to the event.
"It's a great event on a tough course to play," head coach Tim Grogan said. "There will be a lot of good teams -- the majority of the top teams in the midwest -- and we're excited to be invited to the field."
The tournament is being held at the site of the 2007 NCAA Central Regionals. The course is the The Plantation at Rich Harvest Farms (7,325-yard, par 72) in Sugar Grove, Ill. The course is hilly and has water that comes into play on five holes. Golf Digest selected the course no. 5 on its list of Best New Private Clubs in 1999.
Marquette is one of 12 competing teams. Others in the field include: Akron, Ball State, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Michigan, Northern Illinois, Missouri and SMU. Missouri boasts the 2006 U.S. Amateur Championship runner-up in senior John Kelly.
The Golden Eagles have two returnees from its squad that finished third at the BIG EAST Championship in 2006. Junior Ted Gray is one of two juniors on a team that features no seniors. Gray averaged 74.41 strokes per round last season. The other junior, Michael Bielawski, returns after a redshirt season in 2005-06. The team's leading scorer from a year ago, sophomore Mike Van Sickle, returns with 73.53 scoring average from a year ago.
"We only return three players who have significant Division I golf experience," Grogan said. "We have a lot of question marks as a team going into this season."
Gray is the school's single season stroke average record holder. He averaged 73.48 strokes per round in 2004-05. Van Sickle's total as a freshman was second best in school history. Bielawski took the year off for academic reasons. He averaged 74.86 strokes per round two years ago. Despite the team's success from a year ago, Grogan said the team is different and needs to be addressed as such.
"As a team, we're not at the level I want to to be playing at right now. We have a lot of work to do," Grogan said. "They all played this summer and played well, so I'm hoping we can build off that."
Rounding out the returning players on the Marquette roster are sophomores Dustin Schwab and Chris Streff. Streff played in one round last season and Schwab was the individual champion in the Division III Lake Michigan Conference in the fall before transferring to Marquette. Freshman Mike McDonald and Ben Sieg round out the seven man Marquette roster for 2006-07.
Players Mentioned
