Oct. 25, 2008

GALLOWAY, N.J. - Sophomore Brendan Kelly carded a 74 on Saturday and jumped 25 spots in the individual standings in the second round of the Columbia Invitational on Saturday at Galloway National Golf Course. Kelly owns the top score on the team by a seven-stroke margin after two rounds and Villanova stands in 14th place out of 15 teams in the field.

Kelly cut five strokes off his opening round score and has a two-day total of 79-74=153 (+11). He is tied for 13th place in the field of 80 golfers and is only seven strokes off the individual lead held by Michael Blodgett from Penn. Kelly's score of 74 on Saturday was tied for the second lowest individual score of the day. Tom Hoge of team leader TCU shot a 71 (E) on Saturday and four others besides Kelly all had a 74.

Galloway National, playing at par-71 and 6,691 yards this weekend, has yielded just two individual rounds of even par in the first two days of competition. Saturday's round was played in rain and windy conditions that led to 49 players out of 80 posting a score of 80 or higher for the day.

Senior Doug Stadler recorded a score of 82 on Saturday and is the only Wildcat aside from Kelly to stand in the top 50 in the field. He is tied for 43rd place with scores of 78-82=160. Sophomores Conor Casey and Joe Bernard, along with freshman Eddie Ryan, are all tied for 74th place with a two-day total of 170. Bernard shot an 83 for the second round while Ryan and Casey came in with marks of 84 and 87, respectively.

TCU came from six strokes off the lead to hold a six-stroke lead of its own over Florida heading into Sunday's final round, which will be a shotgun start at 9 a.m. for the second straight day. The Horned Frogs have a team score of 307-296=603 (+35).

Individually, Blodgett has posted scores of 71-75=146 (+4) and has a three-stroke lead.