March 21, 2008

After notching a trio of top-10 finishes during the spring campaign, the TCU men's golf program will return to the links for its fourth tournament of the season when the Horned Frogs travel to Tucson, Ariz., for the National Invitational Tournament beginning on Sunday (Mar. 23).

The National Invitational Tournament will be hosted by the University of Arizona at the Omni Tucson National Golf Club and will consist of 54 holes over the course of the three-day event. The Omni Tucson National Golf Club - which will also be the same course that the Purple and White will compete at during the Mountain West Conference Tournament - is set as a 7,033-yard, par-72 course and is widely-considered as one of the top golf courses in the State of Arizona.

The Frogs - who will enter the National Invitational Tournament ranked 62nd in the country according to the latest Golfstat rankings - will face some stiff competition as the Purple and White squares-off against six squads ranked in the top-65 in the country in UNLV (15th), Arizona State (27th), Pepperdine (28th), Kent State (43rd), Arizona (55th) and Virginia (65th).

"This is going to be a great challenge for our team," said head men's golf coach Bill Montigel. "We are playing at the same course that we will be playing on during the conference tournament against some really strong teams. It's going to be good to see two conference opponents there in UNLV and New Mexico, and we will get a first-hand look at our conference competition."

The Frogs will have the same starting five for the fourth consecutive tournament in senior Franklin Corpening (Fort Worth, Texas/Paschal H.S.), juniors James Sacheck (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville H.S.) and Robby Ormand (Austin, Texas/James Bowie H.S.) along with sophomores Travis Woolf (Fort Worth, Texas/Paschal H.S.) and Jordan Woolf (Fort Worth, Texas/Arlington H.S.).

Jordan Woolf has been one of the nicest surprises of the season for the Purple and White as the local standout has notched back-to-back top-20 finishes - including a career-best 12th-place showing at the Fresno State Lexus Golf Classic. The TCU sophomore collected a career-best score of 212 in his last outing for the Frogs - including a career-low round of 68 in the second round of competition.

"Jordan continues to play better and better in every tournament, and you can really see his confidence growing. He's playing extremely smart golf right now, and he's avoiding the big scores - which is obviously an added bonus for us," Montigel added.

In addition to the Woolf's performance, the Frogs have also received strong play from their senior leader in Corpening as the Fort Worth product has notched tournament scores of 218 or lower in two of three tournaments during the spring season. The Frogs have also received consistent play from Sacheck and Ormand - who have both finished in the top-30 in two of their last three tournaments of the spring season.

"We are playing well, but we need to do a better job of putting three rounds of golf together. We are getting more consistent, but this tournament will be a good test for us because it's going to be similar to our conference tournament. We will be playing at the same course, the same format against some of the same competition so I'm excited to see how we handle the challenge," said Montigel.

The National Invitational Tournament hosted by the University of Arizona will begin on Sunday (Mar. 23) with the first 18 holes of action followed by the second and third rounds on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

TCU Athletic Media Relations