University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Travel to Inverness Intercollegiate
9/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
TOLEDO, OHIO----
Live Results | Rounds 1 & 2 Tee Times
After hosting the Gopher Invitational, Minnesota hits the road for the first time this season to compete in the Inverness Intercollegiate. The tournament, which takes place in Toledo, Ohio, tees off September 19 at 8:30 a.m. with 36 holes and concludes with 18 holes September 20 at 8:00 a.m..
This will be the Gophers' second tournament of the year. They placed ninth in the Gopher Invitational with one top-20 finisher.
The travel squad: Justin Doeden, who finished just outside the top 10 in last week's tournament, starts in the No. 1 spot. Riley Johnson, Alex Uloth, Thomas Longbella and Runar Arnorsson will also make the trip. William Leaf will compete as an individual.
The field: Auburn, Austin Peay, Ball State, Bowling Green, Duke, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, St. Mary's (CA), Virginia and host Toledo round out the field. Auburn (14), Duke (22), Virginia (26), Michigan State (46) and St. Mary's (47) all find themselves ranked in the top-50 in GolfWeek's rankings.
"Three of the teams won their first tournament heading into Inverness," coach John Carlson said. "It's a field we are going to have to play well in to compete in."
Minnesota has already faced a talented field at its first meet of the season, where eight teams were ranked in the top 50. The Gophers will face off against five of those teams at Inverness
"Our goal here at Gopher golf is to play against the best teams every week," Carlson said. "I want our players to have a great experience and taste victory but also understand when we win we are going to earn it every week."
The course: The Inverness Club plays at par 71 and is 7323 yards.
"Inverness is a course that if you control it off the tee and get it in the fairway we can attack some of the pin positions," Carlson said. "It's an old golf course that's hosted a lot of major championships and it's difficult around the greens. We need to hit as many greens as possible to give us some chances."
Notes: Justin Doeden started the season with a solid outing at last week's Gopher Invitational. The senior played 1 under par in the two final rounds, finishing 3 over. His 11th-place finish marked the third time he finished in the top 20 in his career.
"It was a great performance," Carlson said. "Shooting 76 the first round is not how he expected to start the year out. But to battle back with 70 in final two rounds, especially 70 in final round, that was the second-best score of the day. Justin had a really great ball striking week. He made putts when he needed to. I fully expect him to go to Inverness with a chance to win."
Carlson noted that he was satisfied with the team's performance and resilience during last weekend's tournament. "I really thought the last day was the type of team that we've built. This is a team of veterans. We didn't get nervous after the first three holes, we didn't start out real well the first day. Then the wind picked up and we really grinded as the day went on. We finished the second round at about 11 over par. We didn't hurt ourselves the last day."
Freshman Mason Fiddle and sophomore Peter Jones will travel to St. John's in Collegeville for the St. John's Invitational, taking place September 16-18. "I look forward to both of those guys going and competing against a strong field. Our Division III and Division II teams are some of the best in the country."
