NORMAL, Ill. – The Drake University men's golf team opens the fall season this week at the D.A. Weibring Intercollegaite.
The 54-hole event hosted by Illinois State will begin with a shot gun start each day. The 16-team field includes: Bradley, Butler, Central Arkansas, Detroit, Drake, Eastern Illinois, Evansville, Illinois State, IPFW, Missouri State, Nebraska, Northern Iowa, Oakland, Southern Illinois, SIU-Edwardsville, Rio Grande Valley, and Western Illinois.
Fifth-year head coach Matt Lewis returns three letterwinners from last year's squad, including senior Will McDonald and sophomores Drew Ison and Matt Lavery.
Ison and Lavery each finished their rookie seasons very strong as they both earned top-18 flag honors at the MVC Championship. Ison led Drake at the conference championship with an eighth-place finish and closed out his first season with an 77.1 average in 33 rounds. Lavery placed in 13th at the league tournament and recorded a 77.5 average in 28 rounds. McDonald carded a 77.9 average in 28 rounds to round out the Bulldogs top returners.
Drake welcomes three freshmen to the roster, Tommi Avant from Chandler, Ariz., Jack Kennedy from Bettendorf, Iowa., and Arjun Reddy form Tulsa, Okla.
The Bulldogs will take a week off and return to the links on Sunday, Sept. 27 at the Badger Invitational, hosted by Wisconsin.
