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Rice University Athletics
Owls Open Fall at Sam Hall Intercollegiate
9/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 10, 2011
Link to Golfstat Live Statistics
The schedule was in place before his hire and now on Monday, Justin Emil will begin his coaching career at Rice University on a course he played countless times as a collegian. The Owls open the fall season at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate, which is set for 54 holes at Hattiesburg Country Club and is hosted by Emil's alma mater, Southern Mississippi.
The 15-team field is slated to play 36 holes on Monday with the final 18 holes of golf set for Tuesday on the par-71, 6,882-yard circuit.
"It has been awhile since I have been to Hattiesburg Country Club but it is a great golf course," Emil said. "I have played it many times and some of the guys on the team have played it and really loved the course so we are all looking forward to going."
Rice also opened the 2010-11 season at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate, named for USM's former coach who also played for the Golden Eagles. Rice finished in a tie for 13th last year.
Rice returning lettermen Jjeff Wibawa and Erik Mayer both played in the tournament last year and will be on the Owls' five-player team for the season opener.
With a 73.51 stroke per-round average last year, Wibawa is the Owls' leading returner. He finished in a tie for 40th last year at the tournament to begin his career as a collegian.
In addition to Wibawa and Mayer, the team's lone senior, the Owls' lineup will include junior Brock Wilson and freshmen Joe Beck III and Tommy Economou.
Taking a page from the PGA Tour, the Rice team went through the "Owl Golf Qualifying School" that culminated with the five-player team being set on Thursday.
"The guys were really grinding it out, fighting and clawing to get in the lineup," Emil said. "It was a good way to start the fall golf season."
Emil said the Rice players had some good days and bad days through qualifying, dealing with the winds associated with Tropical Storm Lee at one point at Westwood Golf Club. Thursday's final round saw Beck shoot a 30 on the front nine and finish at three-under to make a statement and shift the lineup on the last day of qualifying.
"I feel like we have the five who are playing the best right now based on practice and qualifying," Emil said. "Those guys are scoring well and clearly played the best. For the young guys, I am excited to see how they will respond. There are going to be some SEC schools and fellow C-USA schools there to compete against."
The 15-team field includes Conference USA members Memphis, Southern Miss and UAB as well as Ole Miss and Mississippi State out of the SEC. Teams from the Southland and Sun Belt Conferences also make up a large part of the field.
Emil said the course was called the "Ricochet Country Club" during the days of the Mississippi PGA event which was held there because of the number of pine trees which line the course and the struggles players had getting out of the piney woods.
"You have to keep it between the trees," Emil said. "There are a lot of doglegs left and right and you have to work the ball a little."
With the latest renovations to the course, which celebrated its golden anniversary just two years ago, there are a lot of pin locations and the course can be changed quite a bit from day to day, Emil said.
"There are a lot of birdies out on that golf course if you hit it straight and if you are putting well," he said. "The greens are relatively flat so you don't have a lot of big, breaking putts."
The tournament is the Owls' lone competition during the month of September. Following the event, Rice will play at the LaTech Squire Creek Invitational on Oct. 3-4.
