March 11 – Southern Utah University's men's golf team plays the third event of its 2010 spring season next week when the Thunderbirds travel to South Dakota State's Jackrabbit Invitational. The 54-hole tournament will be contested over the par-72, 7,131-yard Desert Course at Primm Valley Golf Club course in Primm, Nev.
    The 16-team field includes Oral Roberts, UMKC, Cleveland State, Loyola (Maryland), North Dakota State, Oakland, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, Drake, Western Illinois, North Dakota, Arkansas State, Youngstown State, Nebraska, SUU and host SDSU.
    Five players will compete for the Thunderbirds, including junior Brad Millard and sophomores Jeff Evans, John Lindsay, Doug Fowles and Jordan Orth, while sophomore Justin Bateman will compete as an individual. Fowles and Orth will be competing in just their third tournaments and Batreman in just his second for the Thunderbirds after joining the team at mid-year.
    This is the inaugural season for the tournament.

    The Coach: Richard Church (Utah '89) is in his 10th season as head golf coach and his 13th on the staff at Southern Utah. Prior to taking over the program from former Coach John Evans, Church spent four seasons as the Thunderbirds' assistant coach. During his tenure on the SUU staff, Church has coached five academic all-Americans, one Summit League (ne. Mid-Continent Conference) medalist, two Summit League runner-ups and the University's first two NCAA post-season competitors in golf. He has also seen the team finish second in the league four times since SUU began competing in the Summie League in 1997-98.

    Last Time Out: There was no repeat of last year's upset showing by Southern Utah's men's golf team at UC Riverside's Braveheart Classic this year.
    Southern Utah shot 944 over the par 72, 7,003-yard Oak Valley Golf Club course to finish in 15th place at this year's classic, one year after finishing second in the team standings with since-graduated Nate Page claiming the individual title.
    Sophomore Jordan Orth, who was playing in just his second tournament for SUU after returning from an LDS church mission and joining the team in January, led the Thunderbirds at 18-over par 234, good for a share of 52nd place. Sophomore Jeff Evans was second among T-Birds, one shot back at 235, while Brad Millard, another sophomore, was tied for 59th at 236. Yet another sophomore, John Lindsay, finished 75th at 241 while junior Doug Fowles shot rounds of 85 and 78 but didn't card the second round after suffering from muscle spasms Monday afternoon.
    Arizona's Tarquin Mcmanus earned the individual title at 6-under par 210 to lead the Wildcats to the team championship at 6-under 858.
    "This is an outstanding layout and a very difficult course. This year we have just one player (Evans) who had ever seen it before Sunday, and that's how we played," SUU Coach Richard Church said. "Last year we had some experience, and we played very well but this year it the experience was more of the learning variety for us."