Oct. 22, 2011
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By Brandon Naidus
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Coming off a strong final round at the Prestige at PGA West, the No. 15 UCF men's golf team looks to continue its momentum into the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational, one of the premier golf tournaments in the nation. The three-day tournament begins Sunday. Teams will play one round per day at Isleworth Golf and Country Club in Windermere.
UCF and Texas Tech will co-host the tournament. The rest of the field consists of: No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Stanford, No. 5 Alabama, No. 7 California, No. 12 North Florida, No. 13 Oklahoma State, No.18 LSU, TCU, Indiana, Florida, Ohio State, Augusta State and Vanderbilt. Every team in the field is ranked in the top 100 in the nation, with four of the teams being ranked in the top 10. Augusta State has won the national championship the past two seasons.
This will not be the first time UCF has been part of a strong field this season. The top two teams in the nation participated in the Prestige at PGA West, the team's most recent tournament.
After a slow start at the Prestige at PGA West, UCF excelled in the final round. Sophomore Kyle Wilshire (Georgetown, Ky.) was UCF's top performer, finishing 21st. Jose Joia (Lagoa, Portugal) will try to repeat his strong final round at Isleworth, as he posted a 5-under-67, which tied for his best round of the season.
Senior Brad Schneider (Valrico, Fla.) and Ricardo Gouveia (Almancil, Portugal) are off to strong starts this season. Schneider helped UCF finish first overall at the Northern Intercollegiate, the team's first tournament of the season, by receiving co-medalist honors. Subsequently, Schneider was named C-USA Golfer of the Week. Gouveia boosted UCF to a first-place finish at the Adams Cup of Newport, the team's second tournament of the season, while receiving medalist honors. After his strong outing, Gouveia earned C-USA Golfer of the Week. Schneider, Gouveia and Joia each finished in the top 10 at UCF's first two tournaments.
Sophomore Greg Eason (Leicester City, England) will return to action at Isleworth. An injury caused Eason to withdraw from the final round of the Northern Intercollegiate and not play in the team's next two tournaments. Eason had a decorated freshman season with UCF. He earned Conference USA Freshman of the Year and made the All C-USA Second Team.
Alabama won the 2010 Isleworth Collegiate Invitational. UCF finished 10th at the tournament last season. Schneider and Eason are the only two members of the UCF lineup this year that played at the tournament last season. Eason was UCF's top performer at last year's tournament, where he tied for 11th.
The tournament will not be open to the public, but live scoring can be found on Golfstat.com.