UVa Men's Golfer Open Season at Northern Intercollegiate

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Charlottesville, Va. – The Virginia men’s golf team opens its 2012-13 season this weekend at the Northern Intercollegiate at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. The tournament features 36 holes of play Saturday and a single-round Sunday.

The Cavaliers will be joined in the 11-team field by Augusta State, Ball State, Indiana, Iowa State, Liberty, Michigan State, Northern Illinois, Purdue, St. Mary’s and UCF.

Virginia enters the season ranked No. 22 in the Golf World preseason coaches’ poll. UCF is ranked No. 20 in the poll. Both the Cavaliers (22nd) and Golden Knights (19th) played in the NCAA Championships last spring in addition to Liberty (10th).

Virginia’s lineup includes seniors Mac McLaughlin (Shaker Heights, Ohio) and Gregor Orlando (Erie, Pa.), sophomores Denny McCarthy (Rockville, Md.) and Ji Soo Park (Clifton, Va.) and freshman Kyle Kochevar (Glen Ellyn, Ill.).

Ben Rusch, the 2012 ACC individual champion, will redshirt the 2012-13 season in order to use his final year of eligibility next season. Rusch, a native of Switzerland who served a year of military service in the Swiss Army, was ruled by the NCAA to only have three years of eligibility due to his age when he enrolled at Virginia.

The Cavaliers will be paired with Northern Illinois and UCF. Those teams will tee off starting at 8:30 a.m. from the No. 10 tee.

Live scoring of the tournament will be online at Golfstat.com.