University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers End Fall Season at Bridgestone
10/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Bridgestone Invite: The Gopher Men's golf team will travel this weekend to play in the 2009 Bridgestone Golf Collegiate Invitational in Forest Oaks, N.C. The 2009 Bridgestone Collegiate, hosted by the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, is played at the scenic Forest Oaks Country Club, past home of the PGA Tour's Wyndham Invitational. Forest Oaks Country Club hosted the PGA Tour event for 31 years starting in 1977. Forest Oaks, a 7,197-yard par-72 layout, was recently renovated by Davis Love III in 2002. Of the 15-team field playing this weekend, eight are currently ranked in Golfstat's top 50 of the 286 teams in Division I golf. Minnesota's Ben Pisani (37th) is the second highest rated golfer in the field behind Patrick Reed (7th) of Augusta State according to Golfstat. Two rounds will be played on Saturday, Oct. 24, with the final round coming on Sunday, Oct. 25. Results will be available on Golfstat.com and UNCGgolfcollegiate.com.
Participating Teams (Golfweek ranking): Augusta State (9), Duke (20), Georgia Tech (32), Michigan (46), Michigan State (113), Minnesota (55), North Carolina (38), Notre Dame (54), Purdue (90), Tennessee (10), Toledo (155), UNC-Greensboro (107), Virginia Commonwealth (34), Virginia (24), Virginia Tech (31).
The Gophers: Minnesota's lineup this weekend will consist of Pisani, fellow senior Thomas Campbell, sophomore Derek Chang and freshman David Haley Jr. and Shang Zhi.
Player to Watch: Golfweek Magazine recently announced that Gopher senior Ben Pisani has been listed as their "Player to Watch" for the 2009-10 golf season. Pisani is currently ranked 29th in the most recent Golfweek/Sagarin College individual rankings and 37th by Golfstat's rankings. He finished last season as the 141st ranked player in the nation. This season, Pisani has paced the Gophers with a 70.27 stroke average after four tournaments and has posted four straight top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish at the 2009 Gopher Invitational.
If his season average holds up, Pisani will hold the programs finest season, according to the stats. Former Gopher All-American and NCAA Champion James McLean holds the top two spots in single season stroke average after finishing with averages of 70.89 and 71.39 in 1999 and 1998, respectively.
Alister MacKenzie recap: The University of Minnesota men's golf team finished alone in seventh place at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational after shooting a five-under 563 over 36 holes. Tuesday's final round was rained out and the 36-hole scores were taken as the final result.
Host California took the victory after a 17-under final round of 267 to overtake first round leader Oregon. California finished at 23-under 545, 18 strokes in front of Minnesota. Senior Ben Pisani continued his strong start to the season with another top-ten finish. Pisani started the tournament with a two-under 69 to sit in a tie for 11th. The Minnesota senior then shot a four-under 67 to finish the tournament in a tie for sixth.
Also making a strong contribution for the Gophers was redshirt freshman David Haley Jr. Haley (72-68-140) moved from 43rd to a tie for 19th at the end of 36 holes. Freshman Shang Zhi (71-74-145) finished in a tie for 44th. Sophomore Derek Chang (75-72-147) ended the invitational in a tie for 51st. Rounding out the Gopher lineup was freshman Frederick Van Rooyen (70-79-149) in a tie for 62nd.
Up Next: The Bridgestone Golf Collegiate Invitational is the Gophers' last tournament of the fall season. The Gophers will start their spring season on Feb. 12 with the start of the Big Ten Match Play in Miami, Fla.
Players Mentioned
