Trojans Set To Host Annual Little Rock Invitational

2019 Little Rock Invitational
Dates	Mon., Oct 21 - Tues., Oct. 22
Format	36 holes Monday, 18 holes Tuesday
Times	8:15 a.m. shotgun start both days
Location	Little Rock, Ark.
Course	Chenal Country Club
Teams (17)	Little Rock, Bradley, Campbell, Central Arkansas, Eastern Michigan, Illinois State, Indian Hills, Lamar, Middle Tennessee, Missouri State, Oral Roberts, Southern Miss, Southern Illinois, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State, Texas Tech, UT Arlington
Scoring	GolfStat
Info Sheet	2019 Little Rock Invitational

2019-20 Little Rock Men's Golf Season Statistics (PDF)

Opening Tee
Little Rock closes out the fall portion of its schedule with the annual Little Rock Invitational, being held Monday, October 21 and Tuesday, October 22 at Chenal Country Club.
 
Tournament Information
The 2019 Little Rock Invitational will be held Monday, October 21 and Tuesday, October 22, being played on the Bear Den course at Chenal Country Club – a par 72, 7,326-yard course. The 54 hole event will be played over the course of two days, beginning with the opening two rounds on Monday before the final round getting underway Tuesday morning. Both days will begin with an 8:15 shotgun start with live scoring available at GolfStat.com.
 
Tournament Field
Little Rock welcomes 16 teams to central Arkansas for this year's home event at Chenal as it will once again be a very competitive field. Five of the 16 teams currently sit among the GolfStat top-100, including the host Trojans, who check in at number 70. Campbell (No. 60), Illinois State (No. 80), UT Arlington (No. 90) and Texas State (No. 100) join Little Rock among the top-100 with Southern Miss (No. 109), Middle Tennessee (No. 112) and Lamar (No. 130) among the nation's best 150 programs.
 
Trojan Lineup
After back-to-back top-20 finishes, Aaron Ramos and Logan Pate will once again occupy the numbers one and two spots for the Trojans with Anton Albers playing the number three position. Marcel Rauch will tee it up again for the Trojans with Devon Whitaker making his first appearance of the season for Little Rock.
 

Golfer	Rds.	Strokes	Avg.	Low	Par-	10/20
Aaron Ramos	9	654	72.67	68	4	1/2
Anton Albers	9	668	74.22	70	2	0/0
Anton Albers	9	668	74.22	69	3	1/1
Marcel Rauch	9	692	76.89	73	0	0/0
Devon Whitaker	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Little Rock Invitational History
Dating back to 1994, Little Rock's annual tournament has been a fixture of the schedule for the past 25 years. The Trojans have won their host event eight times, the last of which came in 2017 when Little Rock repeated as tournament champs for the third time. 14 different teams have won the event with Lamar and Southeastern Louisiana tied for three wins each for the second most. The Cardinals set the tournament record for lowest score with an 832 in 2007 while the individual low score is Missouri's Stuart Ballingall's 201 in 2010. Arkansas State won last year's event with an 863 as UNLV's Harry Hall captured the individual crown with a 210.
 
Last Time Out
Little Rock is coming off another strong showing, finishing tied for sixth at the Maridoe Invitational in Carrollton, Texas, October 6-8. Playing against a challenging field, the Trojans posted a 46-over 910 at the tough Maridoe Country Club, finishing just four shots out of second with a final round 301 – the third lowest score of the day. Individually, Aaron Ramos tied for 14th overall with a 10-over 226 while Logan Pate tied for 18th at 11-over 227 as the duo each finished in the top-20 for the second-straight tournament.
 
Checking in at 70
When the first GolfStat rankings of 2019-20 were released, Little Rock found itself ranked 70th nationally, its lowest mark in nearly 20 years. The Trojans cracked the top-100 for the first time in a decade last year, finishing the year at number 100, then made their debut at 70 this season – its lowest mark since finishing 56th nationally following the 2001-02 season.
 
One-Two Punch
The duo of Aaron Ramos and Logan Pate have paced the Trojans through the first three events of the year in 2019-20. Ramos has finished in the top-20 in all three events, highlighted by tying for fourth at the Trinity Forest Invitational with a 6-under 207, while Pate has finished in the top-20 in each of the last two tournaments. They rank one-two in scoring average at 72.67 and 74.22, respectively, combining for 7 round of par-or-better and three rounds in the 60s.
 
Leaving the Lone Star Behind
For the first time this season, Little Rock will compete in a state other than Texas when it tees it off this week. The Trojans made three-straight trips to the Lone Star state to start the schedule, competing in San Antonio, Dallas and Carrollton and placing in the top-six in each event. Little Rock will return to Texas one last time, making the trek to deep South Texas for the Border Olympics in Laredo in February.
 
Looking Ahead
Following this week's tournament at Chenal, Little Rock will take some time off for the winter break while setting its sights on a busy sprig schedule. The Trojans will compete in seven tournaments once the calendar turns to 2020, playing in six different states, including the 2020 Sun Belt Conference Championship in El Dorado in April.
 
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