April 18, 2005

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - For the first time since 2000, the Villanova men's golf team will participate in the Big East Championship, the school learned today. The conference announced the selections for its tournament earlier today, and the Wildcats were one of six teams chosen by the Men's Golf Committee. The 2005 Big East Championship will be held this weekend on April 23-24 at Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Ind.

Villanova is the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament, and received the final bid awarded. Tournament host Notre Dame drew the No. 1 seed, while Rutgers is the No. 2 seed and Georgetown is No. 3. St. John's and Boston College were seeded fourth and fifth, respectively.

Prior to the selection of the participating teams, head coaches Jake Moran and Joe Moran felt that Villanova and Connecticut would be considered for the final spot in the six-team field. The Wildcats maintained a slight edge in several of the criteria used by the committee when selecting teams, including an eight-stroke differential between the teams in four head-to-head competitions during the season. At this past weekend's Navy Spring Invitational, Villanova shot a 614 over two days to finish two strokes ahead of the Huskies, and likely seal their tournament fate.

Junior Jonathan Hewett (Sioux Falls, S.D.) will lead the Wildcats into the Big East Championship with a 75.95 stroke average. He has played in all but two of the team's 22 rounds this season, and has posted a score in the 70's in 17 rounds, including his last nine in a row.

Sophomore Brock Bergman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) is second behind Hewett with a 76.73 stroke average. He is the only one of the eight players on the Villanova roster who has played in all 22 of the team's rounds on the season. He has posted a score in the 70's in 21 of those rounds, and was the team's low scorer at the Navy Invitational with a two-day total of 150 (+8).

Junior Colin Mahon (Rhinebeck, N.Y.), senior Charlie Nettleton (Lisle, Ill.) and sophomore Brian Feeney (Pelham, N.Y.) make up the rest of the Wildcats lineup for this weekend. Mahon missed the fall season while studying abroad, but has returned this spring to bolster the lineup. In eight rounds since returning, he has maintained a stroke average of 78.50, including a low round of 1-over-par 73 at the George Washington Invitational. Nettleton is the team captain and has been a mainstay in the lineup for the past four years. He has played 15 rounds this season and turned in a 79.60 stroke average. In his second collegiate season, Feeney has played in 15 rounds with a 79.80 stroke average. He shot a career-best 2-over-par 73 in the first round of the Navy Invitational.

The Big East Championship is a two-day, 54-hole event. Each team will play a practice round at the Warren Golf Course on Friday, with tournament competition beginning on Saturday morning. The teams will play 27 holes both days.

NOTES: Villanova had not been chosen for the Big East Championship since the tournament was reduced from nine participating teams to six teams after the 2000 season ... In the 2000 championship, the Wildcats placed fifth among the nine teams.