March 24, 2008

Weekly Release - Carter Plantation Intercollegiate (PDF)

Milwaukee - Marquette University tees off Monday with two rounds at the 15-team Carter Plantation Intercollegiate in Springfield, La. The two-day event is hosted by Southeastern Louisiana at the par-72, 7,049-yard Carter Plantation.

Participating Teams (15): Arkansas State, Belmont, Jacksonville State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Marquette, Middle Tennessee State, New Orleans, Nicholls State, Rice, St. John's, Southeastern Louisiana (host), Texas-San Antonio, Troy.

About the Course: A David Toms signature course, Carter Plantation has a Louisiana Golf Association slope rating of 140 and a course rating of 74.4. Both the front and back nines consist of two par-3s, five par-4s, and two par-5s with eighty-six strategically placed bunkers.

Last Time Out: The Golden Eagles struggled on day one at the Pinehurst Intercollegiate in Pinehurst, N.C., but gradual improvement and adjustments to the course led MU to a modest 10th-place finish out of a total 19 teams. Marquette saved its best round for last with a 290, as did Mike Van Sickle who posted the team's only sub-par round of the tourney with his 71. Van Sickle tied for 10th with a 223.

First Two-Day, Three-Round Tourney of `08: This week's Carter Plantation Invitational is the MU's first two-day tournament of 2008, meaning the Golden Eagles and the rest of the field will play two rounds on the opening day, Monday, March 24. The last time MU played a two-day event was the BIG EAST/MAC Challenge, Oct. 29-30, 2007. MU won the event by five strokes.

Golden Eagles Soaring To New Heights: Marquette captured two tournament titles -- the Xavier Invitational and BIG EAST/MAC Challenge -- this past fall, matching the most tournaments won by an MU squad during a single season. Overall, MU has placed in the top-3 in five of its six tournaments thus far in 2007-08.