Winter Months

Sorry it has been so long since my last entry, but I can assure you that the guys are hard at work!  We have been lifting and conditioning 4 times a week and have even had some decent weather for golf.  We are also working hard in the classroom finishing up our finals this week before everyone leaves for a 3 week break.

On December 4th we volunteered with the Big Brothers Big Sisters in Belleville where we helped with their annual Holiday party.  We helped serve food to over 200 kids who played games and later received a present from Santa.  I will try to upload a couple pictures soon from my phone that I took during the event.

I am already getting excited to get back on the course and begin practice on February 1st.  I hope the weather can cooperate this year and let us get some practice in before we head to Arizona at the end of February.

I want to thank everyone again that participated in the Birdie Pledge!  It helps our program so much to have the support we have from family, friends and alumni!

I hope everyone has a safe and great Holiday Season!

Coach Brown

SIUE Alum and recent Hall of Fame Inductee In Final Stage of Champions Tour Qualifying

Bob Gaus, recent team inductee into the SIUE Athletic Hall of Fame, has moved past the first stage of the Champions Tour Qualifying state by shooting 70-74-70-70.  Bob now moves on to the final stage in Scottsdale, AZ, on November 15-18 at TPC Scottsdale.  We wish him the best of luck next week!

Cougars Win the 2011 SIUE Intercollegiate Presented by Doubletree

We finished our home tournament a few hours ago and came away with the first Division 1 tournament win in SIUE history!  We battled tough conditions today but came out on top shooting a three round total of 893 (292-293-308), which was good enough for a 7 shot win over Missouri State.  Mitchell Homb (FR.) had a great tournament tying for second place with rounds of 71-72-75!  Alex Knoll (JR.) also had a great tournament tying for fourth place with rounds of 73-76-73 and collected his first top 5 finish in a cougar uniform!  It is a great way to finish the fall and will give us a lot of confidence heading into the winter and into next spring.

Also, thanks for all the support we had this weekend!  I know some traveled a long way to watch us play this week and we really appreciate it!

Go Cougars!!

 1 SIU Edwardsville         292  293  308    893   +29 
   2 Missouri St. U.          291  298  311    900   +36 
   3 Evansville, U. of        293  295  314    902   +38 
   4 Eastern Illinois U.      299  304  301    904   +40 
   5 Southern Illinois U.     310  303  302    915   +51 
   6 Wright State             305  306  307    918   +54 
   7 North Dakota, U. of      307  319  312    938   +74 
   8 Bradley University       315  306  322    943   +79 
   9 Nebraska - Omaha         324  315  321    960   +96 
  10 South Dakota, U. of      313  327  321    961   +97 
  11 Chicago State Univ.      360  353  381   1094  +230 

Mitchell Homb T2nd- 71-72-75- 218

Alex Knoll    T4th- 73-76-73- 222

Colin McCarty T13th-77-71-79- 227

Taylor Cox    T22nd-76-74-82- 232

Grant Wynia   T22nd-72-79-81- 232

Taylor White  T28th-75-74-85- 234- competing as individual

Clark Schmidt T28th-78-75-81- 234- competing as individual 

Austin Peay Intercollegiate Results

We are back and finished 8th of 16 at Austin Peay this weekend and had a lot of great efforts from our team.  We shot our three best rounds of the year 293-291-283 for a 3 over total of 867.  The 283 is the second best score in school history!  We had two guys in the top 20 as Colin McCarty placed 10th shooting 71-73-68 for a four under 212 and the fifth best 54 hole total in school history!  Alex Knoll shot 69-72-72 for a 3 under par 213 to tie for 15th which is a tie for 7th best 54 hole total in school history.  I am very proud of the guys and hope it carries over to our home event which starts on Monday at Sunset Hills CC.

Here are the results:

Colin McCarty- 71-73-68
Alex Knoll 69-72-72
Grant Wynia- 77-73-71
Taylor Cox- 77-73-72
Mitchell Homb- 76-75-79

Austin Peay	279	281	279	839	-25
	2	Jacksonville State	282	282	284	848	-16
	3	Samford	284	277	289	850	-14
	4	Binghamton	287	282	290	859	-5
	5	Eastern Kentucky	288	291	281	860	-4
	6	Belmont	295	281	289	865	+1
	7	Troy	290	277	299	866	+2
	8	SIUE	293	291	283	867	+3
	9	Tennessee Tech	288	286	294	868	+4
	10	Western Illinois	290	294	287	871	+7
t	11	Morehead State	289	286	300	875	+11
t	11	Wright State	301	286	288	875	+11
	13	UT Martin	302	284	292	878	+14
	14	Lipscomb	304	286	298	888	+24
	15	Tennessee State	297	301	300	898	+34
	16	South Dakota	301	293	314	908	+44

Austin Peay Intercollegiate

We are back on the road this Sunday for a trip to Austin Peay's Intercollegiate where we will see our conference members for the first time this year.  The field includes Samford, Tennessee Tech, Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee State, UT-Martin, Oakland, SIUE, Western Illinois, Austin Peay, Binghamton, Belmont, Wright State, Jacksonville State, Lipscomb, Morehead State, Troy and South Dakota.  A good 17 team field consisting of every OVC school except Eastern Illinois.  We are excited to get back on the course and I really feel that we can jump up on some people.  We are continuing to play well in qualifying rounds and showing our full potential. 

Thanks to everyone that has participated in the Birdie Pledge!  We appreciate all the support!

Coach Brown

Top 20 for Homb

Freshman Mitchell Homb had a good tournament this past weekend and earned his first Top 20 performance tying for 17th at the D.A Weibring Invitational.  As a team we need to keep continuing to improve throughout this fall semester and get better each event.  We are excited to get right back on the course this weekend at the Dallio Invitational hosted by Depaul University.  I hope to have some pairing out on Friday.

Thanks for all the support!

D.A Weibring Invitational

We just finished our practice round and a great meal at Alexander's Steakhouse!  Outstanding restaurant that I would recommend if ever in the Bloomington/Normal area.  We received our pairings and will be playing tomorrow with two instate schools, Western Illinois and Bradley.  Might be a little chilly tomorrow, but the sun will be out!  8:30 shotgun tomorrow and it sounds like we will have a good following tomorrow with family and friends who have made the trip to Normal.  I will try to update tomorrow night after our 36 holes.

D.A Weibring Invitational

After two weeks of practice, qualifying and starting our match play tournament we are playing better and are more focused on having a good week in Normal this weekend.  I do not have the pairing yet, but the field consists of Akron, Arkansas State, Bradley, Detroit Mercy, Illinois, Illinois State, Missouri State, Nebraska, Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois Carbondale, SIUE, West Florida, Western Illinois and Wisconsin.  We have our practice round on Friday and are scheduled to play 36 holes on Saturday and 18 on Sunday.  It is looking like some good weather and I know we are excited to get back on the course!  Our lineup will stay the same as Nebraska just shuffled around.

1. Taylor Cox
2. Colin McCarty
3. Alex Knoll
4. Mitchell Homb
5. Grant Wynia

We have some experience on this golf course as we have traveled their for the past few years. This is also the same course that Mitchell Homb became a state champion almost a year ago to the date!

Nebraska Pairings

We just completed the practice round and hit the ball pretty well.  I know we are all ready to get the round underway tomorrow!  We are playing with Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota tomorrow.  The course is in nice shape and greens are putting nice as well.  I will try to update as soon as I can tomorrow!

Nebraska Tournament and New Golf Guide

We have finished our qualifying and finalized our squad for the first tournament in Nebraska City next Monday and Tuesday.  Our lineup will look like this:

1. Mitchell Homb
2. Taylor Cox
3. Colin McCarty
4. Alex Knoll
5. Grant Wynia

I will have more information as we arrive at Arbor Links GC on Sunday as to who we are paired with the first two rounds.

Also, our 2011-12 Golf Guide is now available to view online at the following url--

http://www.siuecougars.com/sports/m-golf/archive/2011-guide.html

Fairway Club Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska

We are through 54 holes of our 90 hole qualifier for the first tournament this coming week in Nebraska City, NE.  This is a 11 team tournament hosted by the University of Nebraska at Arbor Links GC.  Teams that are participating are: Nebraska, Missouri State, Oral Roberts, SIUE, Loyola (IL), Drake, Creighton, Western Illinois, South Dakota, South Dakota State, and North Dakota.  I will have more information this weekend as to who we are paired with and who our top 5 will be.  We are all getting excited to get back on the course and start competing!

Nice Win For Men's Soccer

Yesterday the SIUE Men's Soccer team picked up a 1-0 exhibition win over Northwestern at Korte Stadium.  Congrats to Coach Kalish and his staff!  We all are looking forward to another successful year Men's Soccer.

South Dakota State Am

This past weekend Grant Wynia posted a T-12 finish at the South Dakota State Amateur held this past weekend in Brookings, SD.  He shot 75-71-73 and joined fellow sophomore Taylor Cox by posting top 20 finishes in their respective state amateurs. 

10 days until move in day and practice starts in 12 days!

Colin McCarty- Arizona Am

Incoming freshman Colin McCarty shot rounds of 68-66 to finish third out of 143 golfers in the Arizona Am stroke play part of the tournament.  He went into the match play portion of the event as the 2rd seed!  Great job Colin.

11-12 Schedule Released

SIUE.COM released our fall and spring schedule today and I think we have put together a very competitive schedule that will challenge our young team.  Here is link to the release:  http://www.siuecougars.com/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/072711aaa.html

2011-2012 MEN'S GOLF SCHEDULE

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Re
Mon., Sep. 12	Fairway Club Invitational	Nebraska City, Neb.	All Day
Tue., Sep. 13	Fairway Club Invitational	Nebraska City, Neb.	All Day
Sat., Oct. 1	D.A. Weibring Intercollegiate	Normal, Ill.	All Day
Sun., Oct. 2	D.A. Weibring Intercollegiate	Normal, Ill.	All Day
Sat., Oct. 8	DePaul Invitational	Lemont, Ill.	All Day
Sun., Oct. 9	DePaul Invitational	Lemont, Ill.	All Day
Mon., Oct. 17	F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate	Hopkinsville, Ky.	All Day
Tue., Oct. 18	F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate	Hopkinsville, Ky.	All Day
Mon., Oct. 24	Double Tree Invitational	Edwardsville, Ill.	All Day
Tue., Oct. 25	Double Tree Invitational	Edwardsville, Ill.	All Day
Mon., Feb. 27	Snowman Invitational	Goodyear, Ariz.	All Day
Tue., Feb. 28	Snowman Invitational	Goodyear, Ariz.	All Day
Mon., Mar. 5	Samford Intercollegiate	Birmingham, Ala.	All Day
Tue., Mar. 6	Samford Intercollegiate	Birmingham, Ala.	All Day
Mon., Apr. 2	ASU RedWolf Intercollegiate	Jonesboro, Ark.	All Day
Tue., Apr. 3	ASU RedWolf Intercollegiate	Jonesboro, Ark.	All Day
Sat., Apr. 7	NYX Hoosier Invitational	Bloomington, Ind.	All Day
Sun., Apr. 8	NYX Hoosier Invitational	Bloomington, Ind.	All Day
Sat., Apr. 21	E.Y. Ball State Invitational	Muncie, Ind.	All Day
Sun., Apr. 22	E.Y. Ball State Invitational	Muncie, Ind.	All Day

US Am Qualifier

Sophomore Grant Wynia shot a very good 74-72 yesterday at the US AM Qualifier in Sioux Falls, SD, but missed out on qualifying for the championship in Wisconsin in August.  Freshman Taylor White also competed in the qualifier and shot 74-78. 

Practice starts in 27 days!!

Missouri Stroke Play

Sophomore Taylor Cox tied for 17th place out of 147 at the Missouri Am Stroke Play this week.  He shot 75-75-72-72 to jump up over 20 spots over the last 36 holes.  Next up for Taylor is the Columbia City Championship in August.

OVC Team Academic Achievement Award

Our SIUE Men's Golf program won the OVC Team Academic Achievement Award for garnering the highest percentage of players who were named to the OVC's Honor Roll.  The award is given to the top academic team in the conference and to be awarded this honor shows how hard we have been working in the classroom.  Along with being the top men's golf team, Clark Schmidt was awarded the OVC Medal of Honor for his perfect 4.0 GPA and was only one of four golfers selected.  Also announced was the OVC Commissioners Honor Roll and Alex Knoll, Clark Schmidt, Taylor Cox and Grant Wynia made that list.

The OVC also announced that SIUE had the third highest percentage of athletes on the Commissioners Honor Roll.  What a great honor for our team and department!!

Tournament Victory for Homb

Incoming freshman Mitchell Homb won the 89th Annual Lincoln Highway Tournament at Emerald Hills Golf Course in Sterling, IL this past weekend.  He shot 65-72-71 to win the tournament by 6 shots and claim victory for the second time in three years at the Lincoln Highway.

Junior Clark Schmidt also posted a good round of 70 this weekend at the Rantoul Open.

Sophomore Taylor Cox and Junior Alex Knoll will be competing Tuesday through Thursday of this week at the Missouri Stroke Play at Hickory Hills CC in Springfield, MO.  Best of luck to them.

Next Monday, incoming freshman Taylor White and sophomore Grant Wynia are paired together at the US Am Qualifier in Sioux Falls, SD at Bakker Crossing GC.  They are competing for one spot in the US Am in Wisconsin at Erin Hills GC in late August.

2011 Fall Schedule

We released the 2011 fall schedule today and this is what it looks like.

-Fairway Club Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska- September 12-13- Nebraska City, NE- Arbor Links Golf Course

-D.A Weibring Invitational hosted by Illinois State University- October 1-2- Normal, IL- Weibring Golf Course

-John Dallio Memorial hosted by Depaul Univesity- October 8-9- Lemont, IL- Ruffled Feathers Golf Course

-APSU Intercollegiate hosted by Austin Peay State University- October 17-18- Hopkinsville, KY- Links at Novadell

SIUE Intercollegiate Presented by Doubletree Hotels- October 24-25- Edwardsville, IL- Sunset Hills CC

More information such as fields and pairing to follow as we get closer to each event.  Go Cougars!

Article on Neal and Colin

Here is a great story written by Allen Lewis of the Alestle on Neal and Colin McCarty.  Well written!

http://media.www.alestlelive.com/media/storage/paper351/news/2011/07/06/Sports/A.Family.Affair-3999832-page5.shtml

Incoming Freshman Homb Collects Second Top 5 Finish at AJGA Event

Incoming freshman Mitchell Homb (Dixon, IL) finished 5th this week at the AJGA Cleveland Junior Open.  Mitchell shot rounds of 69-81-72 to earn his second career top 5 finish at an AJGA event.  His first round 69 was the second best round of the day and his 72 was the best final round in the tournament.  Mitchell joins Taylor White (Dakota Dunes, SD) and Colin McCarty (Sierra Vista, AZ) as incoming freshman this fall. 

Another great semester for SIUE athletics in the classroom

Here is the link to the story on siuecougars.com!  Men's Golf leading the way!

http://www.siuecougars.com/genrel/060811aaa.html

Highest Team GPA

Grades are in and we achieved our goal of having the highest team GPA in the department!  Our team GPA was a 3.61 and had three guys achieve a perfect 4.0.  It is a great way to end our spring semester that saw us perform well on the golf course as well.

A few quick facts about our 2010-11 season:
-Neal wins the Branson Creek Invitational by 5 shots which gave him his 3rd career win to tie for most wins ever in SIUE history.
-Neal finished his career with the 1,2 and 5th best single season scoring averages in school history
-Neal finished his career with the top four 54 hole totals in school history
-Neal finished his career with the top two 18 hole rounds in school history
-Alex Knoll shoots 69 in the final round of Branson Creek Invitational
-Alex Knoll shoots 3 under par (70-71) at the Red Wolf Intercollegiate hosted by Arkansas State
-We had 17 individual rounds under par this year
-Finished the spring season with an 8-3 record against instate Illinois schools
-Had 3 top 4 team finishes that included two 3rd place finishes
-Went 6-3 against the OVC this spring
-Went 9-2 against the Missouri Valley Conference this spring
-Had 5 guys shoot at least one round under par this season

I have almost finalized the fall schedule and will post it as soon as it is 100% completed.  It is shaping to be a very good, but tough fall schedule!

Thanks for following and keep in mind August 27th is our department golf outing. If you would like information on the outing please email (derbrow@siue.edu) or give me a call (618-650-2865) and I will give you the details.

Graduation!!!

Today was graduation and I couldn't be happier for our two graduating seniors, Nick Nuzzo and Neal McCarty.  Nick graduated with a degree in Mass Communications and Neal graduated with his degree in Speech Communication.  I am very proud of both of them and wish nothing but the best for them in the future.  Graduation went smooth and neither tripped and fell receiving their diploma!  Best of luck Neal and Nick!!

Meeting our Pen Pals at Glen Carbon Elementary

We went and met with our pen pals who are in kindergarten at Glen Carbon Elementary.  We have been writing with them the spring semester and the guys really enjoyed it.  During our visit to the school we read with them, ate some snacks and played with them during recess.  I think our guys had as much fun running around as the kindergartners did!!  Here are just a few pictures from the event.

EY/ Ball State Invitational Results

We are back from the Ey/Ball State Invitational and although we suffered through some tough elements the first two rounds we didn't play well enough the third round to get another top 5 finish.  We finished 8th/14 and once again beat some good schools from MAC, A10 conference, Missouri Valley and Horizon League.  Our first day conditions were just plain awful with temps around 45 and a 30 mph wind with some sideways rain, but our guys really battled through the first day and was quite proud of them.  It was a tough last day, but unfortunately you will have days like that.  I know we all wanted the seniors to go out on another great team finish and we fought hard to do that.

Final Results: (scores reflect a 6 count 5 format)
Ball State- 354-372-378- 1104
Bowling Green State- 380- 365-368- 1113
Northern Illinois- 370- 375-375- 1120
Marshall - 376-372-375- 1123
Wright State- 376-376-383- 1135
Austin Peay- 383-368-392- 1143
Cleveland State- 376-387-381- 1144

SIUE- 377-378-392- 1147

Evansville- 388-384-381- 1153
Eastern Kentucky- 383-379-395- 1157
Dayton- 380-387-391- 1158
Ohio University- 378-389-395- 1162
Butler - 390-394-382- 1166
Valparaiso- 380-406-393- 1179

SIUE players:
Alex Knoll-72-77-74-223--T12th
Neal McCarty-74-72-78-224--T15th
Grant Wynia-73-78-83-234--T50th
Clark Schmidt-79-77-79-235--T54th
Nick Nuzzo-79-76-82-237--T61st
Taylor Cox-83-76-79-238--T69th

EY/ Ball State Invitational

We are heading out tomorrow morning for our last tournament of the year in Muncie, IN.  Have been to this course before I know that we can score well and compete for another great finish.  Another tough field awaits us so we will have to come out of the gate fast.  This is a little different format that usual as we are bringing 6 guys and will play a 6 count 5 format instead of the normal 5 count 4.  It is a good way to get more guys on the course and give them opportunities to succeed.  Our lineup will be Neal McCarty, Alex Knoll, Taylor Cox, Nick Nuzzo, Grant Wynia and Clark Schmidt. 

Teams competing:
Ball State
Bowling Green
Marshall
Ohio
SIUE
Cleveland State
Wright State
Butler
Northern Illinois
Evansville
Eastern Kentucky
Dayton
Austin Peay
Valpo

ASU Red Wolf Intercollegiate

We are back from Jonesboro, AR and really had another great tournament.  We finished 10th out of 18 with one of the best fields we will see all year.  We are really playing well as a team with some individuals playing really well right now.  Alex Knoll led the team this week and ran his streak to 3 straight under par rounds!  He shot 70-71 this week to take home 14th place.  Neal McCarty also hit the ball really well and although struggled with the putter found a way to get under par for the tournament with rounds of 73-70.  Nick Nuzzo had a career best round of 71 the final day to go with a first round 75.  Grant and Taylor also played well this week as they shot 77-74 and 79-76 respectively.  Our 2 under par 286 the second day was tied for the fourth best round of the day which is fantastic for the guys to see their potential.

Final Team Results:
Arkansas Little Rock- 290-276-566
Central Arkansas- 281-286-567
Jacksonville State- 284-288-571
Missouri State- 293-279-572
Arkansas State- 287-287- 574
Louisiana Monroe- 287-287- 574
Murray State- 295-280- 575
Meridian CC- 281-294- 575
Oral Roberts- 289-287- 576

SIUE- 295-286- 581

Illinois State- 298-289- 587
Southern Illinois Carbondale- 303-289- 592
UMKC- 298- 294- 592
Northern Iowa- 297- 295- 592
Eastern Illinois- 298- 297- 595
UT Martin- 298- 304- 602
Austin Peay- 307-295- 602
Texas Pan American- 300- 318- 618


Our new golfstat ranking this week puts us at the lowest number our program has ever been and we are currently 5th/10 in the Ohio Valley Conference.  We turn around and leave again this Thursday for Muncie, IN for the EY/Ball State Invitational where the format is a 6 count 5 format which is a little different for us.  We are bringing the same lineup along with Clark Schmidt who we are looking to jump in and help us capture another top 5 finish.  Teams scheduled to compete:
Austin Peay
Ball State
Bowling Green
Butler
Cleveland State
Dayton
Eastern Kentucky
Evansville
Marshall
Northern Illinois
Ohio
SIUE
Valpo
Wright State

Coach Brown

Arkansas State Red Wolf Intercollegiate

We are already down in Jonesboro and have already been to the course for about an hour of practice.  This is one of my favorite courses and tournaments because of the great hospitality given to us here in Jonesboro.  It is going to be a very good test for us this week as the 18 team field is filled with very good schools.  We are going to carry our momentum and try to improve our 12th place finish from a year ago.  We have the same lineup this week as we have the past two tournaments and if you wish to follow us live golfstat.com does have live scoring this week!

Teams competing:
Arkansas State
Arkansas Little Rock
Austin Peay
Central Arkansas
Eastern Illinois
Illinois State
Jacksonville State
Louisiana Monroe
Meridian CC
UMKC
Missouri State
Murray State
Northern Iowa
Oral Roberts
Southern Illinois Carbondale
SIUE
UT Martin
UT Pan American

Branson Creek Invitational hosted by Missouri State Results

We are back in Edwardsville after finishing in 3rd place at the Branson Creek Invitational for our second straight top four finish.  Neal McCarty took home the individual crown with rounds of 67-74-73 and finished 5 shots ahead of second place.  It was an outstanding tournament for Neal and his 67 was the best round I have ever seen played in college golf.  Monday's conditions were awful with temps at 45 degrees with wind blowing around 35mph and occasional rain.  It was an unbelievable round.  After that first round we were tied for 3rd place with a 305.  We came back in the afternoon with another 305 and that left us in 4th place in the team competition.  Tuesday's conditions were much better with more sun, higher temps and a little less wind.  We played great as a team and our 294 was the second best round of the day and we moved up to 3rd place!  The day belonged to Alex Knoll who shot the only other under par round of the tournament besides Neal's 67 by shooting 69 on Tuesday.  He is playing with some great confidence right now and I know he is a big fan of next weeks course at Arkansas State so he will look to keep the momentum going.  We have  short week coming up as we leave again on Saturday for Jonesboro, AR to play in Arkansas State's tournament.  We will get a couple days of good practice in and make sure our academics are in order and try to carry our momentum to next week.

Individual Results:
Neal McCarty- 67-74-73 214- 1st place
Alex Knoll- 82-75-69- 226- 10th place
Taylor Cox- 79-76-76- 16th place
Nick Nuzzo- 78-81-76- 26th place
Grant Wynia- 81-80-80- 45th place

Team Results

1 Missouri St. U. 305 300 290 895 +43 2 Stephen F. Austin St 300 301 295 896 +44 3 SIU Edwardsville 305 305 294 904 +52 4 UMKC 304 305 302 911 +59 5 Western Kentucky U. 316 305 303 924 +72 6 Drake University 320 308 304 932 +80 7 Eastern Illinois U. 323 317 309 949 +97 8 Western Illinois U. 316 323 312 951 +99 9 Southern Illinois U. 319 326 308 953 +101 T 10 Bradley University 321 328 313 962 +110 T 10 South Dakota, U. of 323 321 318 962 +110 12 Houston Baptist Univ 325 327 324 976 +124

Branson Creek Invitational hosted by Missouri State

After a successful week at the Butler Invitational we will look to continue our strong play this coming Monday and Tuesday at the Branson Creek Invitational in Branson, MO.  We will be playing at Branson Creek, which I have heard only great things about.  It is a par 71 and will play around 6900 yards for the tournament.  We have our final 18 holes of qualifying Saturday to see who will be going with the three guys who are already exempt.  Those 3 already exempt are Neal, Grant and Alex.  Nick, Clark and Taylor are going for the final two spots as we leave on Sunday.  Here are the teams that will be competing against this week.
Missouri State
UMKC
South Dakota
SIUE
Western Illinois
Southern Illinois Carbondale
Western Kentucky
Bradley
Eastern Illinois
Drake
Stephen F Austin
Houston Baptist

We are scheduled to play 36 holes on Monday and 18 on Tuesday as long as the weather holds up!  Thanks for reading..

Coach Brown

Final Results- Butler Spring Invitational

We finished our 2nd event of the spring and had our 2nd top 5 finish in our last 3 tournaments.  We finished 4th/13 and had the 2nd lowest team score on the second day.  Our second day 294 was only 2nd to 40th ranked Purdue.  On a day where the high temp didn't crack 48 our guys really stayed mentally tough and played really well.  Neal McCarty finished with a three under par 69 for the low round of the day to vault into 2nd place individually.  Grant Wynia finished with a very good 73; Alex Knoll shot a 76; Nick Nuzzo shot a 76 and Taylor Cox shot 80.  I am very proud of the way the guys competed in the weather and defeated some good schools in this field. 

Here are the final results:
1.Purdue University- 288 290  578
2.IUPUI- 300 298  598
2.Loyola U- Chicago-295-303  598
4.SIUE- 307-294  601
4. Dayton- 295 306  601
6. Detroit- 305 300 605
7. Cleveland State 303 310 613
8. Wright State- 307 314 621
8. Evansville- 310 311 621
10. Butler- 309 315 624
11. Valparaiso- 311 314 625
12. Youngstown St.- 322 308 630
13. Robert Morris PA- 324 312 636

SIUE Individual Scores:
Neal McCarty- 73-69 142 - 2nd
Grant Wynia- 78-73 151 - 22nd
Alex Knoll- 77-76 153 - 29th
Taylor Cox- 79-80 159 - 49th
Nick Nuzzo- 85-76 161 - 57th

Now we are off to Branson, MO to play in a tournament hosted by Missouri State.  I will follow with the teams and more information as we get closer to the weekend.

Thanks for following!

Coach Brown

Butler Spring Invitational- 1st Round

We completed the first round at the Butler Spring Invitational and currently sit 7th out of 13.  We played solid today and are currently 3rd in the field in pars made but we just didn't make enough birdies.  It was a cold day with highs only reaching 45 and we are looking at more of the same tomorrow. Our Individual scores were:
Neal McCarty- 73
Alex Knoll- 77
Grant Wynia- 78
Taylor Cox- 79
Nick Nuzzo- 85

Team Standings:
Purdue- 288
Dayton- 295
Loyola Il- 295
IUPUI- 300
Cleveland State- 303
Detroit Mercy- 305
SIUE- 307
Wright State- 307
Butler- 309
Evansville- 310
Valparaiso- 311
Youngstown State- 322
Robert Morris- 324

We are only 4 shots off a top five finish and Neal is only 3 shots of 2nd place individually.  Hopefully we can go out tomorrow and put some scores together and come away with a top 5 finish!

Coach Brown

Butler Spring Invitational

Well as far as I know the tournament is still on for this coming Monday and Tuesday.  Seems wrong that we are getting snow this late into the season.  We have been inside the nets the last couple of days trying to groove our swings in the warmer indoor nets.  This tournament is only a 36 hole tournament scheduled for 18 on Monday and 18 on Tuesday.  Both rounds are a scheduled shotgun for 10:30.  We are paired with Dayton ( the defending tournament champion) and host Butler.  Always a plus when you play with the home school as they can lead us around the course.  Other teams in the field include:
IUPUI
Butler
SIUE
Evansville
Dayton
Wisconsin Green Bay
Purdue
Wright State
Cleveland State
Youngstown State
Detroit
Loyola Chicago
Robert Morris

Hopefully we can get in a practice round tomorrow and start off with a solid round on Monday as Tuesday is calling for rain.  I will try to update as soon as I can on Monday. 

Community Service and Upcoming Events

Well, we are all back from spring break and our guys all got a lot of great golfing in.  We have less than 2 weeks before we hit the road for 4 tournaments in 4 weeks.  This is going to be test for us to keep momentum going four weeks in a row, but I believe we are up to the challenge.  We start off with the Butler Invitational played in Avon, IN.  We are going to see a lot of the Horizon League at this tournament and I think we can have some success there.  We then head to Branson, MO, to play in a tournament hosted by Missouri State.  This is played on a great golf course with a mixture of conferences being represented.  We finished up with tournaments at Arkansas State and Ball State where we are going to see a bunch of teams that we normally do not see during the year.  This makes it fun for us to go out and see different teams and see where we fit in on a national level.  I will post more about teams competing as we get closer to each tournament. 

We also did a community service project right before spring break for the Polar Plunge at Carlyle Lake.  This event raised over $70,000 for Special Olympics and we were glad to help out the cause.  I cannot believe how many people jumped into that lake as the temperature that day was not much over 35 degrees.  The support for the event was fantastic from many of the surrounding communities.  We all had fun and look forward to the event next year!

Coach Brown 

Washington State Getaway Invitational

We just finished our first tournament of the spring season with mixed feelings.  We showed a lot of improvement in our ball striking, but struggled around the greens all tournament.  We were led by Neal McCarty, who paced us with a 72-73-72, good enough for a T-17.  Neal got a big victory over the number 2 ranked player in the county in the Golfstat Cup.  It was a very exciting head to head victory for Neal.  As a team we finished 12th out of 14 shooting 907.  We had a great opportunity to place higher but our short games were just not quite there this week.  We were in 9th after the first round, 11th after the second round.  Other scores:
Nick Nuzzo- 76-76-75
Grant Wynia- 74-81-75
Taylor Cox- 78-80-79
Alex Knoll- 83-78-85
Clark Schmidt- 80-79-79

We have a 4 week break before our next tournament in Indianapolis at the Butler Invitational.  We will be really concentrating on our short games and do what we need to compete for a title at Bulter!

Congratulations to the SIUE 1982-83 golf team

I want to personally congratulate the 1982-83 golf team for being voted into the SIUE Hall of Fame this past week.  The ceremony will take place on Saturday, September 24 on the SIUE campus.  This team won five tournaments during the 82-83 campaign on their way to an SIUE best 9th place finish in the NCAA tournament.  Coach Harry Gallatin comprised a very good schedule that the Cougars handled very well beating many Division I schools including Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois.  The team also boasted a First Team All American, Bob Gaus.

Members of the team were Bob Gaus, Bob Donnewald, Jay Eihausen, Mark Marcuzzo, Jim Kurtzeborn, Kent Dolenc, Boyd Watson, Lee Hammel, Dave Stites, and Harry Hazelhurst.

 Again congratulations from the entire SIUE community.

Coach Brown

Snowman Getaway hosted by Washington State

Although we are probably not going to get outside before we fly down to Phoenix, I think our team is preparing well in our indoor nets.  Swings are looking good and everyone has really been working hard in the weightroom.  I know that the guys and myself included are ready to see some green grass and are really looking forward to being down south.  Here is the confirmed field:
Washington State
Missouri
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
UMKC
Bradley
Portland
St. Johns
Northern Illinois
Northern Colorado
Utah State
Gonzaga
Idaho
U of Seattle
British Columbia(NAIA)

Snow Day

We are getting excited as we have less than a month left until our first spring event in Chandler, AZ, hosted by Washington State.  Although, we did just get about 7-8 inches of snow last night, we are hoping to get in some time outside before we head south.  We are making progress in our new inside hitting nets that we started using this semester.  As we get closer to the Washington State tournament, I will give you all more details on who is participating and course that we will be playing.