Oct. 25, 2008

COLUMBIA – It has been nearly a whole month since South Carolina’s men’s golf team won the Mason Rudolph Invitational, their first tournament win in two seasons. And now the Gamecocks, after several weeks of practice, look to regain the momentum as they travel to the prestigious Isleworth Collegiate Invitational in Windermere, Fla. Tournament play is set for Sunday-Tuesday at Isleworth Country Club.

The Gamecocks will send out the same lineup that took the tournament title in Nashville four weeks ago with seniors Allen Koon and Mark Silvers III, juniors George Bryan IV and Patrick Rada, and freshman Wesley Bryan.

“The Isleworth Collegiate is one of the premier college events in the country,” South Carolina head coach Bill McDonald said. The field is extremely strong and deep. We have had about a month off since our last event, but the team has been working hard on their short game and other areas during the break. My concern is that we may be a little rusty from the lack of competition, but this group has a way of responding to the moment.”

Isleworth Golf & Country Club is a par 72 layout playing 7,544 yards from the championship tees – dubbed the “Tiger” tees in reference to Isleworth’s most famous member, one Tiger Woods. The course has played anywhere from very forgiving – Georgia won last year’s event at 23-under par – to nearly impossible, such as when the field had a scoring average over 80 during one round of the 2005 event.

“The Isleworth golf course has very challenging par 3s and the wind dictates how much you gamble on some of the other holes. The same group of guys that won at Vanderbilt will play this week. I look for us to continue our good play and get into contention for a championship once again.”

South Carolina will tee off in the second wave of tee times Sunday from the 10th tee, paired with Stanford and Texas. The first tee time for the Gamecocks is set for 8:49 a.m.

Full information on the tournament is available at www.isleworthcollegiate.com, and live stats can be viewed at golfstat.com.