Feb. 23, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State men's golf team will leave the cold Illinois winter behind for the third time in two weeks, as the Redbirds continue their southern swing in Florida at the Argonaut Invitational, hosted by the University of West Florida at Pensacola Country Club in Pensacola, Fla.
The Redbirds are led by redshirt sophomore Joe Emerich, who leads the team with a 74.6 scoring average. Emerich, a Palatine, Ill. native, will look to continue a week-long streak that saw him take a match-play victory at the Tinervin Cup (Feb. 16), while also trying for 18th at the UTSA Oak Hills Intercollegiate (Feb. 18-19) with a three-round-total of 221 (72, 72, 77).
"Joe is coming off a great trip," said head coach Ray Kralis. "He has stepped up as a leader of this team and I am hoping the rest of our guys can feed off of the way he has played."
Also competing for ISU is junior Ben Murphy, sophomores Tommy Bliefnick and Drew Miller and true freshman Jeff Kellen.
"Everyone had at least one good round last week but we need to transition that into solid team rounds," said Kralis. "I think we can build some momentum off of the positive things we saw last week, but we are still looking to maintain a certain level of consistency."
The 15-team event will be held at the Pensacola Country Club, a course designed by 1976 U.S. Open Champion and current PGA Champions Tour member Jerry Pate. The course was damaged extensively by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and re-opened in the fall of 2006.
The tournament tees off with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. Monday, with teams playing 36 holes. The final 18 holes are slated for a 9 a.m. shotgun start Tuesday.
