PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley men's golf team will play its earliest spring opener in program history next week when the Braves head to Santee, Calif., for the Carlton Oaks Invitational Monday and Tuesday.

The 54-hole tournament will mark the earliest Bradley has started its spring schedule after opening the 2006 spring schedule (Feb. 13 & 14) at the Pala Mesa Invite in Fallbrook, Calif.  The Braves will be traveling to California for the first time since the team last appeared in the Carlton Oaks Invitational in the 2010 spring opener.  

Joining Bradley in the tournament field at the par-72 Carlton Oaks Golf Resort will be Cal State-Bakersfield, DePaul, IPFW, Nebraska-Omaha, Oakland, St. Bonaventure and tournament-host Western Illinois.

Bradley looks to build upon a strong fall season, which saw the squad shoot five of the eight lowest rounds in school history in addition to claiming the team's first tournament title since the 1996-97 campaign.  The Braves posted a 291 team average over its final seven rounds of the fall. 

Junior Seth Trolia (Mahomet, Ill./Seymour) ranked ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 73.30 stroke average in the fall and shot 75 or better in eight of his 10 rounds.  Trolia owns a team-best 19 consecutive sub-80 rounds dating back to last spring. 

Fellow junior Danny Masrin (Palatine, Ill./Jakarta International School) turned in the low round of the fall for the Braves with a 68 at the Butler Fall Invitational and his 71.5 stroke average in Bradley's last two tournaments lowered his season average to 73.8 per round.  Masrin is one sub-80 round away from 50 in his career and two short of moving into Bradley's top 25 for career rounds in the 70's.  

Senior Daniel Young (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) capped the fall season by matching a career-best 69 in the first round of the Dayton Fall Invite and boasted a 74.20 stroke average.  Young owned a 73.14 stroke average over the final three tournaments of the fall.

Freshman Bobby Jacobs (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) was one of four Braves to shoot in the 70's all 10 rounds in the fall and tied for 16th at the Dayton Fall Invitational to tie for team-best honors in Bradley's last outing.  Jacobs closed out the fall with a 74.5 average. 

Senior Kyle Gunther (Dunlap, Ill./Peoria Christian) also capped off a strong fall with rounds of 73 and 72.  Gunther averaged 75.33 per round in the fall, but shot 72.5 per round in the final two tournaments. 

Following the Carlton Oaks Invite, Bradley makes the first of two trips to Florida for the Benbow Invitational in Jacksonville, Fla., March 10 & 11.