PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley men's golf head coach Jeff Roche and his squad will open the 2012 Fall season Sunday, taking part in the 36-hole Midwest Shootout in West Lafayette, Ind. The one day event is the first of four fall tournaments for the Braves.
The Midwest Shootout is scheduled for two rounds of play Sunday beginning at 7:30 a.m. (CDT) at the par-72 Kampen Golf Course in West Lafayette, Ind. The tournament field includes Southern Illinois along with in-state foes Chicago State, Eastern Illinois, Illinois Wesleyan and Loyola-Chicago. The nine-team tournament also features tournament-host Purdue, Valparaiso and Eastern Kentucky.
The 2012-13Bradley roster features the top three performers from last year and the Braves returned six of seven letterwinners from the 2011-12 campaign. In addition to the strong cast of returning players, BU also welcomed freshman Garrett Cox (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour), who was a high school teammate of sophomore Seth Trolia (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour).
Trolia helps highlight a roster which features just one senior, after posting the 10th lowest season stroke average in school history and recording a BU freshman record with a 75.9 stroke average in 2011-12. He fired 26 sub-80 rounds and was the squad's top finisher in seven of 11 events, while breaking the freshman stroke average record which had stood since 1977-78.
Sophomore Danny Masrin (Palatine, Ill./Jakarta International School) also had a strong freshman year, finishing the season with a 77.67 stroke average. Bradley's top finisher in three of 11 tournaments, his 21 rounds in the 70's last year ranks as the second-best total by a BU freshman behind Trolia's 26 sub-80 rounds.
The most experienced player on the roster is junior Daniel Young (Metamora, Ill./Metamora), who earned honorable mention Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete honors last year. Young averaged 77.0 per round in the spring and finished the year with a 77.73 stroke average. He claimed medalist honors at the Hotels at Grand Prairie Invitational at WeaverRidge Golf Club in the spring and has fired 41 career sub-80 rounds.
Following Sunday's tournament, the Braves are back in action Sept. 22 & 23 at the D.A. Weibring Intercollegiate in Normal, Ill.
