April 22, 2009

Fresh off their best finish in the program's history last year, the Dayton Flyers men's golfers will vie for their first conference crown at the 31st annual Atlantic 10 Men's Golf Championship.

The event will take place from April 24-26, at the Mission Inn Resort in Howey-In-The-Hills, Fla.

Coming off a program-best runner-up finish a year ago, Dayton is anchored by senior Rob Chappell, the 2008 individual champion, and sophomore Chris Woeste, who was tabbed the Most Outstanding Rookie last season.

Chappell is vying to become just the fifth player in league history to win consecutive A-10 individual titles and the first since Xavier's Steve Dixon accomplished the feat in 1998 and 1999.

But Chappell wasn't the only Top 10 finisher last year for the Flyers. Woeste tied for eighth overall and was named the selected to the All-Atlantic 10 First Team as well.

In fact Woeste and Chappell were two of five UD golfers in the program's history to place in the Top 10 at the A-10 Championship. Along with Chappell and Pagnotto, Tim Skufca tied for seventh in 2005 and Adam Myers earned a 10th place finish in 2004.

In order to repeat last season's success, the Flyers will have to have a performance that mirrored their last outing a week ago.

At the Titans Invitational Woeste fired a 75 in the third round to finish in second among individuals at the Titans Invitational. Woeste's effort also helped the Flyers pick up a second place finish as a team at the tournament. The sophomore also ran his streak of rounds below an 80 to 11 and completed the tournament just six strokes behind the leader.

As a team during the spring season, UD is averaging 310.00 strokes per round. This year's squad is not that far off from last season's pace. In 2008 the Flyers had a team stroke average of 309.53.

The Flyers will go with a lineup of Chappell, Woeste, Mitch Custenborder, Michael Oberschmidt and Jeff Hodapp. For the two seniors, Chappell and Custenborder, this will be their final collegiate tournament at UD.

That group of five has also been the go to lineup for head coach Chris Hale since the beginning of the month.

Joining Dayton in the quest for the 2009 A-10 title are Charlotte, Duquesne, Fordham, George Washington, La Salle, Rhode Island, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, Saint Joseph's, Temple and Xavier. Tee times for all three rounds of the Championship begin at 8 a.m. ET.

Home of the 1998 & 2000 NCAA Men's Golf Championship, Mission Inn Resort has been ranked among the "Top 10 of Florida's favorite golf courses" by Florida Golf News; received the "Four-Star Award" by Golf Digest; and was recognized as one of the nation's "Top 100 golf courses" by Links Magazine.