Nov. 5, 2005

Rounds 1-2 Results

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Junior Steve Arnold (Langhorne, Pa.) fired a five-under-par 67 in the first 18 holes on Saturday and is tied four fourth place in a field of 60 golfers after the first day of competition at the BIG EAST/MAC Challenge on Saturday in Winter Haven. Villanova is in seventh place in the two-day tournament, held at the par-72, 7,177-yard Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge. The first 36 holes were played on Saturday with the final 18 holes scheduled for Sunday.

Arnold registered birdies on the first two holes and had seven overall in his opening round to tie for the tournament lead going into the afternoon round. He followed up with a two-over-par 74 on his second 18 holes and is tied for fourth place with scores of 67-74=141 (-3). Arnold added three more birdies in the second round and is second in the field with 10 birdies through the first two rounds. Six of his birdies came on par-4 holes and he is tied for first with an average score of 3.95 on par-4 holes.

The Wildcats shot team rounds of 290 and 297 to finish at 587 through the first two rounds. Villanova is three strokes behind conference rival St. John's and fourth overall among seven Big East schools at the tournament. The other four participating schools come from the Mid American Conference. Four designated teams from the Big East are competing with the four MAC teams during the weekend, and the conference whose teams have the lower composite score at the end of the 54-hole event will be declared the winner.

Freshman Andrew Alexander (Rochester, Minn.) is tied for 13th place overall after shooting rounds of 71-74=145 (+1). His round of 71 in the first round was his fourth round under par of the season, and put him five strokes ahead of senior captain Jonathan Hewett (Sioux Falls, S.D.). Hewett had a score of even-par 72 in the first round and came back with a 78 to tie for 34th place.

Freshman Doug Stadler (Wexford, Pa.) and senior Colin Mahon (Rhinebeck, N.Y.) rounded out the Wildcat scores on Saturday. Stadler shot an 80 in the first round but bounced back to match Arnold and Alexander with a team-best 74 in the second round and is tied for 48th place. Mahon followed up an 82 in the first round by recording a 75 in the second round to tie for 55th place.

Big East newcomers University of South Florida and Marquette occupied the top two team spots ahead of Ohio University. USF had scores of 275 and 298 to finish at 573, three strokes ahead of Marquette. St. John's finished the day at 584, while Villanova was ahead of DePaul (599), Connecticut (605) and Cincinnati (606).

Zach Jecklin of Northern Illinois had a one-stroke lead atop the individual standings after rounds of 69 and 70 on Saturday. He was one of three golfers (the others were from St. John's and Ohio) who finished under par in each of the opening two rounds.

Teams will tee off at 7 a.m. on Sunday in the final 18 holes of the tournament.