University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Head West for Braveheart Classic
3/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Braveheart Classic: The Gopher men's golf team will continue its spring season by traveling to Beaumont, Calif. to take part in the Braveheart Classic. The tournament, hosted by UC Riverside, will take place at the par-72, 7,003 yard Oak Valley Golf Club.
The field will play 36 holes on March 1 and finish with 18 holes on March 2.
The Field (Golfweek ranking): Arizona (53), Cal State Bakersfield (213), Cal State Fullerton (215), Cal State Northridge (140), Gonzaga (201), La Verne, Long Beach State (106), Loyola Marymount (157), Minnesota (68), Portland (172), Sacramento State (149), Santa Clara (88), Southern Utah (193), UC Riverside (160) and UC Santa Barbara (132).
The Lineup: Minnesota's lineup will consist of senior Ben Pisani, junior Donald Constable, sophomore Derek Chang and freshmen Erik Van Rooyen and Shang Zhi. Redshirt freshman Robert Bell will make the trip and play as an individual.
Ben Pisani - A Player to Watch: Golfweek Magazine announced this fall that Gopher senior Ben Pisani has been listed as their "Player to Watch" for the 2009-10 golf season. Pisani is currently ranked 14th in the most recent Golfweek/Sagarin College individual rankings and 6th 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 70.14 stroke average after five tournaments and has posted five straight top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish at the 2009 Gopher Invitational.
If his season average holds up, Pisani will hold the program's 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.
Coming Home: Minnesota native Donald Constable, the 2005 and 2006 Minnesota High School State champion at Minnetonka High School, joined the team this spring after two-plus seasons at the University of Texas. A four-year letter winner at Minnetonka High School, Constable was a four-time All-Classic Lake Conference selection. He played two full years for the Longhorns before his recent transfer back to his home state of Minnesota.
While at Texas, Constable held a scoring average of 74.54 in 55 rounds (18 tournaments). He played in four tournaments his freshman season and opened his collegiate career with a tie for 53rd place at the PING Arizona Intercollegiate. Constable also finished in a tie for 43rd at the Fresno State Lexus Classic with a 2-over 218. Constable posted a stroke average of 74.03 in 12 tournaments as a sophomore, scored nine under-par rounds and made two top-20 finishes. Constable also made an appearance in the NCAA Championships, finishing in a tie for 104th. He posted a 72-hole score of 300 in the Big 12 Championships, which was good enough for a tie for 25th.
Up Next: The Gophers will take a week off before being part of the 2010 General Hackler at the TPC of Myrtle Beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on March 14-15. The TPC of Myrtle Beach is a Tom Fazio designed course .
