April 25, 2007

TUCSON, Ariz. - For the second time in four weeks, the TCU men's golf team will be competing at the prestigious Omni Tucson National Golf Resort's Catalina Course (par 71, 7,136 yards). This time, however, the stakes are higher for the young Horned Frogs, who begin play in the tough Mountain West Conference Golf Championships Thursday.

TCU is currently ranked 31st nationally in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Two MWC teams, eighth-ranked UNLV and BYU (No. 14), are among the nation's top 15, while New Mexico and San Diego State reside in the top 50.

Senior Drew Stoltz, sophomores Jon McLean, Robby Ormand and Jesse Speirs, along with freshman Travis Woolf, will represent TCU at the tournament. The Horned Frogs have been a balanced squad throughout the year, as the five players have combined for 12 top-20 finishes.

Stoltz, who tied for sixth at last year's event after earning co-medalist honors at the 2005 Conference USA Championships, is tied for the team lead in top-10 finishes with three. He carries a 73.13 stroke average this year. With two previous league tournament appearances under his belt, Stoltz has played in more conference championships than the rest of the team combined (1).

McLean, ranked among the nation's top 50 in the latest Golfweek individual ratings, carries a team-best 72.11 scoring average. He opened the season with a victory at the Inverness Intercollegiate and corralled two more top-10 placements in the fall, but has played in just one spring tournament due to illness. McLean tied for 34th at last year's MWC Championships.

The first of three TCU golfers making his conference tourney debut, Ormand sports a 74.42 average through six tournaments. In early April, he had a career- and team-best 16th-place finish at the National Invitational Tournament at Tucson National.

Speirs is the only one of the five players to appear in every tournament this year. He boasts three top-20 finishes and a 74.10 stroke average. Of his 15 rounds of play this semester, Speirs has secured a team-best five sub-70 scores.

Woolf placed among the top 20 twice in five events this spring while posting a 73.29 scoring average. In his first collegiate tournament, he established a school record with a round of 64 at the UH Hilo Intercollegiate.

After winning the 2001 Western Athletic Conference title and the Conference USA men's golf championships from 2002-05, the Horned Frogs had their all-sport school-record streak of five straight conference titles snapped last year when the Frogs placed fifth at the 2006 MWC Championships. The Frogs have won seven conference championships under veteran head coach Bill Montigel.

TCU, grouped with New Mexico and San Diego State, will begin play at 12:10 p.m. (CT) Thursday. Live scoring of the tournament will be available on www.golfstat.com.

--www.GoFrogs.com--