No. 21 Men's Golf Prepares For Duke Invitational
10/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Oct. 18, 2002
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The No. 21 Michigan State men's golf team will compete in the Duke Golf Classic Oct. 21-22 at the Duke Golf Club in Durham, N.C.
The Spartans return to action after posting back-to-back first-place finishes at the 2002 Wolverine Invitational and the Adams Cup of Newport. While Michigan State continues to thrive off its team depth, John Koskinen (Baraga, Mich.) leads the way. The senior co-captain finished tied for third at the Wolverine Invitational and tied for 10th at the Adams Cup of Newport. Koskinen owns the team's lowest stroke average at 71.92.
Michigan State is looking to improve upon last year's performance at the Duke Golf Classic where the Spartans finished 11th out of 17 teams. Despite a sub-par team effort, Koskinen and Eric Jorgensen (Big Rapids, Mich.) each posted top-10 finishes.
The No. 21 Spartans face a challenging 14-team field that includes Alabama-Birmingham, Arizona State, No. 9 Augusta State, Coastal Carolina, No. 22 Duke, Florida Southern, Furman, Georgia Southern, Houston, No. 11 Illinois, Marshall, Virginia and defending tournament champion Virginia Tech.
The Duke Golf Club, originally designed by Robert Trent Jones, played host to the 1962 and 2001 NCAA men's golf championships. The par 72, 7,104-yard layout was re-designed in 1993 by Rees Jones.
Action begins with an 8 a.m. shotgun start Monday (Oct. 21) for round one and a 1 p.m. start for round two. The final round of 18 holes is slated for Tuesday (Oct. 22) with tee times between 8 a.m. and 10:06 a.m.
The Duke Golf Classic is Michigan State's final tournament of the fall. The Spartans resume the 2002-03 season at the Big Red Classic (March 1-9) in Ocala Fla.
*Rankings according to GolfWeek.com