Rice Golf Opens at Olympic Club
9/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 6, 2008
Rice University opens its fall season Monday when the Owls begin play at the San Francisco Invitational.
Rice will take a veteran team to its first tournament as senior Kyle Kelley, juniors Michael Buttacavoli and Christopher Brown along with sophomore Michael Whitehead all return and have qualified for the season-opening tournament. Transfer Robert Burrow rounds out the coming week's five-player squad.
The tournament will be played at The Olympic Club, the nation's oldest athletic club, which has served as host to four U.S. Opens and will play host to the event again in 2012. The club also played host to last year's U.S. Amateur.
"We are certainly looking forward to our first event of the year, especially one being held at such a great facility," Rice coach Drew Scott said. "Anytime you have the opportunity to play where U.S. Opens have been held, that is special."
Buttacavoli, the Owls' top qualifier for this week, is coming off a sophomore year in which he was a unanimous selection to the 2008 Conference USA All-Academic Team. He had a 74.08 stroke average, placing second at one spring tournament as well as posting a pair of Top 15 finishes during the year.
Brown captured the Collegiate Players Tour/Sonterra Collegiate Open and placed third at the CPT National Championship this summer. Kelley placed second at the CPT National Championship. Whitehead reached the semifinals of the 2008 Texas Public Links Championship. Burrow, a transfer from Rhodes College, shot a 67 in the pre-qualifyer for the PGA Wyndham Championship then shot a 67 in the Monday qualifier but missed the cut by one stroke.
"I feel like we have a great team heading into the season, coming off successful summers of tournament play for all of the guys," Scott said. "It should be a fun week to see how our game stacks up against some solid teams."
The 15-team field is heavy with West Coast teams including Cal, Oregon State, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Clara. Also playing in the tournament is Conference USA rival UAB while other high-profile programs Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Xavier are also part of the field.
Players Mentioned
