March 31, 2005

AUSTIN, Texas - The University of Houston golf team wraps up its 2004-05 regular season Monday when it begins competition at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate at Austin Country Club.

The Cougars join some of the nation's top collegiate golf teams on the 6,906-yard, par-72 course, including Arkansas, Baylor, BYU, Florida, Fresno State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Rice, SMU, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech, Tulsa, Virginia and host Texas.

Teams will play 36 holes on Monday with the final 18 holes slated to start Tuesday morning. Live scoring will be available on www.Golfstat.com.

This tournament will be the last action for the Cougars before opening play at the 2005 Conference USA Championships on April 18 at The Grand Bear in Gulfport, Miss.

The Cougars come into the tournament on the heels of a second-place finish at the First Tee/UALR Collegiate Classic on March 28-29. At that event, junior Kevin Newman fired a season-best 71 in the opening round on the way to a 54-hole total of 221 to tie for eighth place.

Freshman Jordan Irwin, who earlier this season earned medallist honors at the Palmetto Intercollegiate on March 14-15 in Aiken, S.C., finished in a tie for 10th at 222.

Sophomore Ricky Romano leads the Cougars with a 73.8 scoring average, while teammate Pablo Acuna is a close second at 73.9.

All four of those golfers and junior Zach Mowbray are scheduled to compete at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate.

A year ago, the Cougar finished 13th at this event with Mowbray topping all Cougar linksters, thanks to a score of 213 for a ninth-place finish.