The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Golf Opens 2014 Season At Gopher Invitational
9/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB men’s golf team will open the fall season at the Gopher Invitational hosted by Minnesota. The three-round tournament will be held at the Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence, Minn. With the first two rounds on Sunday, Sept. 7 and the third round on Monday, Sept. 8.
“It is a good field, there are some good teams here,” head coach Alan Murray said. “To do well, we will have to play well. Windsong Farms is a really nice golf course. You can score on it, but you are going to have to hit good shots to put yourself in position to score. All the guys really seemed to like it during practice today.”
The field will feature 13 teams, including six teams that competed in NCAA Regionals in the 2013-14 season. Among those teams are two preseason top-25 ranked teams in No. 14 California and No. 22 New Mexico.
Also in the field are Baylor, Central Arkansas, Charlotte, Kent State, Michigan State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, San Francisco, St. John’s and VCU.
This season the Blazers will have a different look with the loss of three players from last year’s team that finished 21st at the NCAA Championships. UAB will return two players that competed at the NCAA’s, senior Paul Dunne and junior Martin Rohwer, to help with the transition.
“It is a different lineup from what we had last year,” Murray said. “It is a new experience for some of the guys. I am excited to see how they do. It is a long year so this will be good experience for us to get a tournament under our belt. The guys have some personal goals they are working on so I think if they can meet those we will have a good week.”
The Green and Gold will send out juniors Will Cannon, Ryan Davies and Rohwer along with sophomore Henry James and freshman Lee Hodges in the team’s first tournament of the year. Dunne will miss the first tournament while competing in the World Amateur Team Championships in Japan starting Sept. 9.
“Paul is not playing for us this weekend, he is in Japan playing for Ireland in the Eisenhower Trophy,” remarked Murray. “We will miss him, but Martin is back from last year’s lineup. Will Cannon was the state amateur champion this summer, Ryan Davies had a good summer playing with the Welsh National Team. We also have Henry James and Lee Hodges as a freshman.”
In the first round, UAB is slated to tee off from the first hole beginning at 8:15 a.m. with Hodges. James will be second at 8:24 a.m., Davies at 8:33 a.m., Cannon at 8:42 a.m. and Rohwer at 8:51 a.m. The teams will play two rounds on Sunday, the second round will begin at 12:30 for the group off hole No. 1.
For live score updates at the Gopher Invitational, follow along here.
For the latest news on Blazer sports, follow the UAB Athletics Twitter account: @UABathletics. For men's golf news, follow @UAB_MensGolf.
