Feb. 13, 2009

2009 Rice Intercollegiate Pairings-Round 1
2009 Rice Intercollegiate Pairings-Round 2

The Ninth Annual Rice Intercollegiate presented by Srixon gets underway Monday at Westwood Golf Club in Southwest Houston as 15 teams begin play at the 54-hole tournament with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.

Teams are slated to play two rounds on Monday with the tournament concluding with the final 18 holes on Tuesday morning.

"We are very excited to host this year's Rice Intercollegiate presented by Srixon," said Rice coach Drew Scott. "This year, 15 teams will be tested by an incredible Westwood Golf Club in top tournament condition, where the greens will be first and rolling between 11.0 and 11.5 on the Stimpmeter. We are also pleased to have Srixon as the presenting sponsor for a second year. Their commitment to college golf and the Rice Owls has been great."

Seniors Kyle Kelley and Erik Petersen along with junior Christopher Brown as well as sophomores Robert Burrow and Michael Whitehead form the Rice group which will compete for the team championship. The Owls will also have four players competing as individuals - Tim Pawul, Erik Meyer, Benjamin Thorseth and Tommy Mitchell.

Rice placed eighth at last year's tournament.

This year's field includes teams from every time zone in the continental United States.

"Rice will face still competition from top teams including North Carolina State, Pacific, Louisiana-Lafayette, San Francisco and cross town rival Houston," Scott said. "We look forward to using the knowledge of our home course to our advantage"

Rice will compete with North Carolina State and San Francisco during Monday's play. The Owls' will open play on the first, second and third holes at Westwood. Houston, the only other Conference USA team in this year's Rice Intercollegiate, will be paired Monday with Pacific and Liberty. Houston Baptist and Texas Southern will also compete in this year's tournament.