July 22, 2008
WINDERMERE, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.om) - Tavistock Group and UCF Athletics announced the field for the fifth annual Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational on Tuesday. Defending tournament champion Georgia returns to face an impressive field which features eight of the top 10 teams, highlighted by the top six teams in the nation, according to the final 2008 Golfweek/Sagarin ranking. The three-day event begins Oct. 26 at Isleworth Golf & Country Club in Windermere.
"The strength of the field is by far the best of any tournament in the country and a testament to the event and the golf course," said UCF men's golf head coach Nick Clinard. "Tournament chairmen Jim English and Dick Nunis, director of athletics Keith Tribble, Tavistock Group, Central Florida Sports Commission and the staff at Isleworth have all been instrumental in the success of the event. We are all looking forward to a great tournament in October."
Last year, Georgia won the event by an incredible 21 strokes with a team score of 841. Twelve of the teams in this year's field participated in the 2007 event, including runner-up Clemson. The Bulldogs will return with Harris English, who won the individual medalist last year by three strokes with a three-round total of 205 over Southern California's Jamie Lovemark.
Eight of the squads that will participate in the tournament finished in the top 15 at the NCAA Championship in the spring, including the top five places. UCLA claimed the national title in June by defeating Stanford, the 2007 National Championship team, by one stroke. Southern California finished third, Oklahoma State ended the event in fourth and Clemson finished fifth. Charlotte (T-8), Georgia (T-8) and Alabama (13) were all among the top finishers at the national championship.
Isleworth is a par-72, 7,544-yard championship course originally designed by Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay, later redesigned and enhanced by Steve Smyers. Isleworth consistently ranks as one of the longest and most difficult courses in the state and is home to a number of world-renowned PGA professionals.
Information on the tournament can be found at www.isleworthcollegiate.com. Available for players, coaches, sponsors and spectators, the site features tournament history, leaderboards, an interactive team map, course layout, spectator information and news stories.
2008 Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational Field (final 2008 Golfweek/Sagarin ranking)
Alabama (3), Arizona (56), UCF (31), Charlotte (8), Clemson (13), Georgia (1), Georgia Tech (9), Illinois (46), Indiana (25), Kentucky (60), Louisiana State (52), Oklahoma State (5), Southern California (2), South Carolina (14), Stanford (6), Texas (32), Texas Tech (24), UCLA (4)
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to www.UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit www.UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.