March 26, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford men's golf team will get a preview of future conference competition this weekend as they head to South Carolina to participate in the Furman Intercollegiate, March 28-30. The three-day event will be held at the par-72, 6,825-yard, Furman University Golf Course and the field of 24 teams will play three rounds of 18, one round a day.

The field of 24 teams includes seven Southern Conference teams, future competitors of the Bulldogs, and six teams ranked in the top 100 by Golfstat. Out of the SoCon are Appalachian State (#200), Chattanooga, Davidson (#214), Elon (#118), Furman (#97), Western Carolina and Woffor (#164). Also in the field are Charleston Southern, No. 14-ranked Clemson, East Carolina, Francis Marion (#112), Marshall, North Florida, No. 57 Ohio State, No. 88 Old Dominion, Presbyterian, Rhode Island, Samford, No. 11 South Carolina, UNC Wilmington (#132), USC Aiken, No. 56 Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Winthrop.

The 2007 champion Virginia Tech Hokies return to repeat while Elon's Jayson Judy returns as a sophomore to claim the individual medalist crown again.

The Bulldogs come off a week's rest after grabbing their highest finish in the Drake University Diablo Grande Invitational, March 16-18. Samford fought 50 mph winds on the first day but turned in two good rounds in the final two days to finish fourth out of 11 teams. The Samford men hope to take that momentum into this weekend's tournament and play well against tough opponents.

A full recap and results will be available on www.samfordsports.com at the completion of each round. Live scoring can also be accessed through the Golfstat website.