Oct. 24, 2009

Tournament Notes in PDF Format | Live Scoring

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s men’s golf team will wrap up its fall season this week against an elite field at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational, which will be played at Isleworth Golf & Country Club in Windermere, Fla, beginning Sunday and running through Tuesday with 18 holes each day. The Gamecocks have claimed at least a share of first place in their last two tournaments and have earned top-five finishes in all three events thus far.

But this week presents the strongest field and likely the toughest golf course the Gamecocks have seen thus far. Twelve of the 15 teams in the field are ranked in this week’s GolfWeek top 25. Leading the field is No. 1 Oklahoma State and No. 2 Arizona State, followed by No. 3 Illinois, No. 4 Washington, No. 5 TCU and No. 6 Stanford. Next is No. 10 Florida, followed by the 12th-ranked Gamecocks and No. 15 Alabama. The rest of the field includes No. 22 Texas Tech (the tournament host), No. 23 Clemson and defending champion No. 24 Georgia, followed by East Tennessee State, UCF and Kentucky.

“We always look forward to playing in The Isleworth Collegiate Invitational,” Gamecock head coach Bill McDonald said. “The field once again might be the best in college golf. We have had a couple of weeks off since our last event, and I know that the guys are ready to get back into the tournament atmosphere. We have had a very productive fall season so far, and I know our players would like to finish the fall campaign on a high note and maintain some good momentum heading into the offseason.”

For the fourth straight event, all five competitiors in this week’s lineup will not only be playing for the Gamecocks, but also for state pride as the entire Carolina lineup is native to the Palmetto State. The five competitors for the Gamecocks in the Carpet Capital Collegiate will be senior George Bryan IV (Chapin), senior Patrick Rada (Anderson), sophomore Wesley Bryan (Chapin), senior Paul Woodbury (Lake City) and redshirt freshman Clint Tolleson (Spartanburg).

The Bryan brothers and Rada played in this event last year. George Bryan IV was the low Gamecock at the 2008 event, shooting 225 (+9) to tie for 26th. Wesley Bryan tied for 41st at 228 (+12), and Rada was in a tie for 57th at 232 (+16).

South Carolina will be paired with Clemson and TCU for Sunday’s first round with tee times beginning at 9:30 a.m. on the No. 1 tee. Complete coverage of the event can be found at isleworthcollegiate.com, and live scoring will be available through golfstat.com.