Oct. 26, 2007

ORLANDO, Fla. - The Marquette men's golf team heads to Orlando, Fla., to take part in the BIG EAST/MAC Challenge on October 27-28. The tournament, in its third year, is organized and hosted by Marquette.

The tournament is the second last event for the Golden Eagles for the fall portion of their schedule. The field consists of 11 teams, eight of which are from the BIG EAST and three come from the Mid-American Conference. Along with Marquette, representing the BIG EAST are Cincinnati, DePaul, Connecticut, USF, Seton Hall, Rutgers and Villanova, while Akron, Bowling Green and Ohio are from the MAC.

The tournament will be held at Grand Cypress Golf Club. Grand Cypress has won the Gold Medal Award from Golf Magazine for nine years and is regarded as one of the top golf clubs in the country. The Jack Nicklaus designed course has hosted numerous tournaments including the Grand Cypress Pro-Am, the Grand Cypress National Amateur Championship and the Chrysler Plymouth Tournament of Champions.

Two rounds (36 holes) will be played on Saturday, while the final round of the 54-hole tournament will be played on Sunday. Five players from each school will play in the tournament with the top-four scores counting towards the team total.

The Golden Eagles enter the event having finished ninth at the Windon Memorial Invitational on Oct. 8. Junior Mike Van Sickle earned co-medalist honors shooting a season low 66 for the final 18 holes. Currently Van Sickle leads the team in scoring with a 70.44 scoring average.

Marquette won the 2005 BIG EAST/MAC Challenge and placed second last season. Sophomore Ben Sieg claimed the individual title in 2006 with a seven-under, 209, for the 54-hole tournament.