Oct. 13, 2008

FLOURTOWN, Pa. - After shooting consecutive rounds at even par, it was only fitting that freshman Brendan Kelly would secure medalist honors with a par on the first sudden death playoff hole on Sunday at the Big Five Championship. Kelly became the first Villanova player since 2005 to win a tournament when he defeated Jake Katz of Binghamton in a playoff on Sunday afternoon. The Wildcats finished fourth in the team standings and came within six strokes of claiming their second city championship.

Kelly and Katz carded identical scores of even-par 71 in both their rounds on Saturday and Sunday. The scores were a common theme for Kelly, who tied for the tournament lead with 26 pars for the weekend. He was tied for fourth place after the opening round on Saturday. This is the third time in four tournaments this fall that Kelly has been the team medalist.

Sunday started out with great promise for Villanova, which was in second place after a round of 292 on Saturday. However, the Wildcats came back with a 301 on Sunday to finish with a total of 593 which was six strokes behind overall team champion and new city champ Temple. The Owls finished at 295-292=587 and beat out Seton Hall by one stroke and William & Mary by two strokes in the standings.

Kelly was named to both the All-Tournament Team and the All-Rookie team for his outstanding play this weekend, during which he lowered his stroke average for the season to 72.30. Kelly had five birdies and five bogeys for the weekend.

Senior Doug Stadler tied for 17th place in the field of 78 golfers with scores of 73-76=149 (+7). Stadler was one of four Villanova players - joining Kelly and seniors Brett Bergman and Andrew Alexander - who registered an aggregate score below par on the course's par-5 holes.

Sophomore Colin List tied for 27th place individually with scores of 74-77=151 (+9) while Alexander carded rounds of 74-80=154 (+12) to tie for 40th place. Bergman came in tied for 43rd place with marks of 78-77=155 (+13).

Back in the 2005 championship, Steve Arnold claimed medalist honors for the Wildcats and Villanova's fifth-place finish was best among the city schools and gave the Wildcats the championship. The same wasn't the case this year, as Temple had its top two players each tie for fifth place along the way to winning. The Owls trailed Seton Hall by five strokes after play on Saturday and bested them by six shots on Sunday.

The ne remaining fall tournament on the schedule for Villanova is the Columbia Invitational on October 24-26 in Galloway, N.J.