University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Face Elite Field in Las Vegas Tourney
March 10, 2010 | Men's Golf
March 10, 2010
Tennessee gets the chance to test itself against one of the truly elite fields in men's golf when the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters begins Friday in Las Vegas.
The entire 15-team field is ranked among the nation's top 50 by both the Golfstat.com and Golfweek/Sagarin rating services. Tennessee stands 27th according to Golfstat and 28th in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin calculations.
"This event is one of the premier tournaments in all of college golf," UT head coach Jim Kelson said. "We're really looking forward to it and are very fortunate to get an invitation this year. It's at a really challenging golf course and is a super field."
Five teams -- Oklahoma State, Texas, Florida, Texas A&M and Arizona State -- are ranked inside the top 10 by at least one service, while another six are among the top 20 in both polls. Texas A&M was the 2009 NCAA national champion.
UT and 13th-ranked Georgia are the tourney's other Southeastern Conference representatives. Texas Tech is the Big 12's fourth entry, while Arizona, Southern California and UCLA make up the rest of the Pac-10's four-school contingent. Georgia Tech is the ACC's lone entrant, while Mountain West members New Mexico and TCU join host school and defending tournament champion UNLV.
Kelson's lineup this week consists of his five golfers with the best 2009-10 scoring averages: Darren Renwick, Robin Wingardh, David Holmes, Jay Vandeventer and Garrick Porteous.
UT's top three of Renwick, Wingardh and Holmes are separated by only eight strokes out of 18 rounds played this season. Renwick, a sophomore, leads with a 72.39 stroke average, while the junior Wingardh is next at 72.61, and Holmes, the senior captain, stands third at 72.83. Vandeventer, the freshman, is next at 74.25 for 12 rounds, with the sophomore Porteous fifth on the team at 74.67 for six rounds played.
Play begins Friday at 8 a.m. Pacific time on the Southern Highlands Golf Club (par 72, 7,510 yards). The latest weather outlook calls for highs each day in the 60s, with winds no stronger than 10 mph.
Live scoring is available through UTsports.com via Golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
