University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Men Open 2008-09 Campaign by Hosting Gopher Invitational
9/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
GOPHER INVITATIONAL - WHAT TO EXPECT: The Gopher Invitational has a history of attracting some of the top collegiate golf teams and individuals to the Twin Cities. Minnesota won the inaugural Gopher Invitational in 2005 and went on to finish third in the 2006 NCAA Championships the next spring. The Stanford Cardinal edged the Gophers in 2006 and went on to capture the 2007 NCAA Championship. Last year’s title went to Lamar University in record fashion. The Cardinals shot a Gopher Invite record combined score of 4-over 868, winning by 22 strokes over the University of Arkansas and the University of Wisconsin. This year’s tournament includes Arkansas, Iowa, Iowa State, LSU, Marquette, Pepperdine, SMU, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, Yale and the Gophers.
This year’s event should produce much of the same. Eight of the 12 teams in this weekend’s field participated in the NCAA regionals in 2008. Of the eight teams, the University of Washington and the University of Texas qualified for the NCAA Championships, with the Huskies finishing seventh and the Longhorns 19th.
Individually, the Gopher Invite will include many top rated players. LSU arrives in the Twin Cities with the fourth ranked recruiting class in the country according to Golfweek Magazine. Also, four Tiger players (Jarrod Barsamian, Clayton Rotz, Josh Jones and Bryant Lach) qualified for the 2008 U.S. Amateur.
Several other golfers that will be participating this weekend also qualified for the U.S. Amateur, including Pepperdine’s Andrew Putnam and Wisconsin’s Dan Woltman and Dan Zimmerman. Washington’s top returning player, Nick Taylor, finished in a tie for 2nd place at the 2008 NCAA Championships and played in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and the 2008 Canadian Open.
Marquette’s Mike Van Sickle, an All-American a year ago, comes to Spring Hill as one of the top ranked amateur golfers in the country. He carded 71.39 strokes per round last year in leading the Golden Eagles to the 2008 Big East Conference championship.
Not only will the play be impressive, the course will as well. Spring Hill Golf Club is regarded as one of the best golf courses used for collegiate golf tournaments. Spring Hill is a 7,020-yard Tom Fazio designed private course located in Wayzata, Minn.
THE GOPHERS: Minnesota’s roster this season includes 10 players that have had a taste of collegiate golf. That said, Derek Chang, a true freshman from Alpharetta, Georgia, will see action in his first tournament as a Gopher and will join four players that saw action a season ago in seniors Victor Almstrom, Yu Katayama and Andy Paulson and junior Ben Pisani. Also, Thomas Campbell, Alexander Culverwell, Patrick Datz, Justin Kaplan and Cameron White will be playing the tournament as individuals.
Players Mentioned
