Trojans Open Season Defending Title in Memphis

2017 Memphis Intercollegiate
Monday, Sept. 18 – Tuesday, Sept. 19
Colonial Country Club | Cordova, Tenn.
Live Scoring: BirdieFire.com

Opening Tee
Little Rock opens up its 2017-18 schedule seeking a title defense, heading to Cordova, Tennessee for the 2017 Memphis Intercollegiate, being held September 18-19.

Tournament Information
The 2017 Memphis Intercollegiate will be a 54-hole tournament, played over the course of two days at Colonial Country Club – a par-72 course measuring 7,235 yards. Round one gets underway with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Monday morning, proceeding immediately into round two. Tuesday's final round will also be a shotgun start, starting at 8:30 a.m.

Tournament Field
Little Rock, the reigning Memphis Intercollegiate champions, will face 13 other schools that will be looking to take the trophy from the Trojans. Little Rock should be among one of the favorites to repeat as the Trojans' GolfStat ranking of 102 from 2016-17 ranks third among the field, trailing only Middle Tennessee (No. 52) and Arkansas State (No. 87). Five other teams finished last year with rankings between 100 and 199, comprised of host Memphis (No. 128), Western Kentucky (No. 149), Western Carolina (No. 165), Georgetown (No. 174) and UT Martin (No. 183). Alcorn State, Belmont, Fort Wayne, IUPUI, Stetson and Tennessee State complete the 14-team field.

Trojan Lineup
Head coach Jake Harrington has a young but talented squad in 2017-18 as three golfers will be making their Trojan debuts this week. Junior transfer Justin Warren, freshman Aaron Ramos and redshirt junior George Scanlon will comprise the one, two and three positions for Little Rock as each will wear the Trojan logo for the first time. Sophomores Danial Durisic and Logan Pate round out the scorecard, playing in the four and five positions. Durisic posted a 74.00 scoring average in eight tournaments while Pate played in six tournaments, posting a 74.76 average, including tying for seventh at last year's Memphis Intercollegiate.

Trojans at the Memphis Intercollegiate
Little Rock has an extensive history with Colonial Country Club as the trip to Memphis has become a staple in the Little Rock schedule. The highlight came last season when the Trojans captured the tournament title, posting a 288 in round three to finish with a 31-over 895, besting Lipscomb by two strokes. The trip to Memphis will be the ninth in the last 12 seasons as the Trojans have finished in the top-10 four times, including a runner-up finish in 2009 and a fifth-place showing in 2010.

2016-17 Recap
Last season had its share of ups and downs for Little Rock, which finished in the top-10 of the team standings in 10 of its 11 tournaments, including six times among the top-five. The Trojans captured a pair of team tournament titles, winning the Memphis Intercollegiate September 26-27, 2016, before capturing the host Little Rock First Tee Classic at Chenal Country Club March 27-28, 2017. Using a lineup that was dominated by seniors, Little Rock closed the year with an eighth-place finish at the Sun Belt Conference Championship, finishing the year ranked 102nd among the GolfStat team rankings.

Challenging Slate Ahead
Little Rock will face another challenging schedule in 2017-18 as the Trojans will compete in 11 events in eight different states and all four time zones. The slate includes trips to Tennessee, Colorado, Texas, California, Washington, Mississippi and Florida, highlighted by the Trojans' host tournament October 23-24 at Chenal Country Club.

Looking Ahead
Following the trip to Tennessee, Little Rock will be back in action next week, heading west to Colorado for the Mark Simpson Invitational. The event will be held at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, Colorado, September 25-26.

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