Sept. 11, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
Fresh off his Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week award, Illinois State senior Tommy Bliefnick will lead the Redbirds to compete at the Fairway Club Invitational at the Arbor Links Golf Club in Nebraska City, Neb., Monday and Tuesday. The first 36 holes will be played Monday with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.
Men's golf head coach Ray Kralis is looking for a victory after coming off a 10th place finish at the Golfweek Conference Challenge.
"The expectations right now are pretty high," Kralis said. "We've got a core group that's been together a long time and with the veterans we have going I think that it's important that we start to win. I would like to get a win on the road and I think that we're ready to do that. I typically don't make these kinds of statements, but I think we are capable of running the table with the group that we've got these next three weeks. My expectations are as high as they've ever been of what this team is capable of so I'm ready to go after some hardware."
Junior Jeff Kellen, a 2009 All-Valley Selection, will be making his season debut. Bliefnick and Kellen will be joined by senior Kyle Bragg, who finished tied for 22nd place at the Golfweek Conference Challenge. Senior Joe Emerich and sophomore Eric Meier will also compete.
Participants for the Fairway Club Invitational include Missouri Valley Conference rivals Creighton, Drake and Missouri State, along with Butler, Kansas, Missouri-Kansas City, Nebraska, Northern Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota State and Western Illinois.
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