Men’s Golf to Open 2015 Fall Slate at the Marshall Invitational, Sept. 14-15

Monday, September 14

Huntington, W. Va.

All Day

Bowling Green State University

Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

Men’s Golf to Open 2015 Fall Slate at the Marshall Invitational, Sept. 14-15

September 13, 2015 | Men's Golf

By: by Kevin Davis, Assistant Director for Athletic Communications

Live Scoring at www.BirdieFire.com

Bowling Green, Ohio – For the fourth straight year, the Bowling Green State University men's golf team will tee-off the fall season at the Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational hosted by Marshall University. This year's tournament will be held on Sept. 14-15 at the Guyan Golf and Country Club in Huntington, W. Va.

"We are excited to finally be starting our season this week," commented head coach Kevin Farrell. "Although we have no seniors on the team this year, we still have a lot of experience. We have a lot of guys that have competed for us over the last few years and we have high expectations as a team for this year."

Held at the par 71, 6,573 yards Guyan Golf and Country Club, the 46th annual Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational will be a 54-hole tournament with two rounds set for Monday, Sept. 14, and a final round of 18 holes scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 15. Each day will begin with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.

This year's tournament field includes 16 teams in Bowling Green, Belmont, Cleveland State, Dayton, Eastern Kentucky, Longwood, Marshall, Morehead State, Northern Kentucky, Ohio, Richmond, Samford, West Virginia, Wichita State, Wright State and Youngstown State.

Coach Farrell will send out a Falcon lineup of Jose Narro, Pablo Heredia, Brett Rinker, Cameron Michalak and Mitchell Kontak, while newcomer Max Rispler will compete as an individual for the two-day event.

BGSU's Narro will look to defend his individual championship at the Marshall event, as he took medalist honors with a 54-hole score of 206, -7 under par, last year at the 2014 tournament. He posted a career-low and tournament-low round of 66, -5 under par, over the second round of play after turning in a first round 69, -2 under par. Named to the 2015 All-MAC First Team last year, Narro finished in a tie for 10th-place overall at the 2015 MAC Championships with rounds of 74, 73, 69 and 75 for a 72-hole score of 291, +3. He posted a team-best 73.22 stroke average on the year, which ranked third overall in the MAC, and carded a career-low round 66 twice. The junior turned in eight sub-par rounds on the year overall, recorded six top-25 finishes and was the top-Falcon golfer in seven events on the year.

Making his Falcon debut at the Marshall Invitational, Heredia will look to carry over his strong play from the summer in which he competed at both the European Boys' Team Championship and at the British Boys Amateur Championships. Playing for Spain at the European Boys' Team Championship in July, Heredia posted rounds of 73, +1, and 72, even par, in stroke play to help his team advance to the team match play event. Heredia continued his strong summer with a two round stroke play score of 147, +4, over the first two rounds of play at the 2015 British Boys Amateur Championship on Aug. 11-12 to advance on to match play.

Now in his third year with the BGSU men's golf team, Rinker will once again be counted on to help the Falcons' compete for tournament championships. The 2014 MAC Men's Golf Freshman of the Year carded a combined score of 219, +6, with rounds of 74, 74 and 71 to finish in a tie for 32nd overall at last year's Marshall Invitational. In 2014-15, Rinker carded a season stroke average of 74.39 overall on the year, which ranked second on the team and ranked 12th overall in the MAC. The junior recorded a career-low round of 68 in the final round of play at the Ka'anapali Collegiate Classic in Hawai'i and shot a round of 69 at the Lone Star Invitational. He posted three sub-par rounds of golf on the year and was the top-Falcon golfer in three events on the season.

Both Michalak and Kontak will be teeing-off their second years for Coach Farrell and the Falcons with both players making their intercollegiate debuts at this event one year ago. At the 2014 Marshall Invitational, Michalak carded rounds of 79, 71 and 75 to finish in a tie for 64th-place overall, while playing as an individual Kontak placed in a tie for 86th with a combined 54-hole score of 234, +21.

Last season, Michalak posted a season stroke average of 77.00 overall on the season as a true freshman and turned in a low round 70 in the first round of play at the Lone Star Invitational. Kontak recorded a stroke average of 81.00 over 12 rounds of play on the year and shot a low round 75 at the 2014 Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational in his first year as a Falcon in 2014-15.

A transfer from South Alabama, Rispler will be making both his Falcon and intercollegiate debut as an individual this week at the Marshall Invitational. The top-ranked player in the Class of 2014 in the state of Michigan, Rispler attended Forest Hills Central High School in Grand Rapids, Mich. where he was a two-time all-conference selection and an individual qualifier for the Michigan High School Athletic Association Lower Peninsula Division I State Championship in 2013 as a senior. He placed ninth out of 120 golfers at the state championship after tying for fourth at the regionals with a round of 72 and earning medalist and first-place honors with a round of 72 at the district championships. As a freshman, he posted a fourth-place finish to help lead the Rangers to the Division I State Championship. As a junior golfer, Rispler won four tournaments and placed in the top-10 in six other events over 16 junior events in 2013.

"We have four guys in our lineup that have played in this event and at this course before, including Jose and Brett who have each competed at this tournament for us the last two years," continued Farrell. "Pablo has played well this summer, so we expect to compete over all three rounds of play this week."

Overall this will be the sixth straight season in which the Falcons have competed at the Marshall Invitational, having posted a team-best seventh-place finish last season.

Live scoring for the event can be found at www.BirdieFire.com (click here).

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