Nov. 2, 2006

MILWAUKEE - The Marquette men's golf team heads to Winter Garden, Fla., to take part in the BIG EAST/MAC Challenge on November 4-5, a tournament in its second year which is organized and hosted by Marquette.

This is the final event for Marquette this fall, as the team caps a five-event first-half. The tournament field consists of 12 teams, eight of which are from the BIG EAST, and four come from the Mid-American Conference. Representing the BIG EAST are Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Marquette, St. John's, Seton Hall, USF and Villanova. MAC schools participating are Akron, Bowling Green, Ohio and Northern Illinois.

"This is a great way to wrap up our fall season," head coach Tim Grogan said. "In a sense, this is kind of an early preview of the BIG EAST. That's what the other schools view this as well. This is a good way to end our fall season with a majority of teams we will face at the BIG EAST Championships."

The Golden Eagles come into the event having placed seventh at the Hoya Invitational two weeks ago. It's lowest finish of the fall, Grogan said he hopes the team rebounds from that finish.

"In the fall, we had progressed very well and got better with each tournament before playing in the Georgetown tournament," Grogan said. "Our guys have a lot to prove. We haven't seen the level we're capable of playing yet as a team."

This is the one tournament where Marquette will play its entire roster. Normally, the team takes a roster of five to an event, but this time, all seven will play with two scores not set to count for the team total.

"The starting five will be the same as always -- Michael Bielawski, Ted Gray, Dustin Schwab and Mike Van Sickle. It's Ben Sieg's turn to play in the rotation, so Mike McDonald and Chris Streff will play as individuals," Grogan said. "It's a good chance for the guys who haven't played in every tournament to give an indication of where they are in terms of the season,"

Currently, Van Sickle leads the team in scoring at a 72.55 scoring average. Bielawksi is second at 73.55 and has four of his 11 rounds under par.

The tournament will be held at Orange County National Golf Center. Orange County National hosted the 2003 and the 2005 PGA Tour Q-School Finals, and will host PGA Tour Q-School in 2007. OCN is regarded as one of the top golf facilities in the country.

Last season, Marquette won the event. The Golden Eagles shot a tournament best 276 in the final round to win the tournament by nine strokes. Ohio's Mark Cimarolli won the event, finishing the tournament at 207.