Sept. 13, 2008

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Freshman Brendan Kelly debuted with a round of 72 (+1) for Villanova in the first round of the Rutgers Invitational on Friday and the Wildcats stood in 12th place out of 24 teams with a score of 299 (+15) after 18 holes of play at the Rutgers University Golf Course. The tournament was set to conclude on Saturday in much fairer conditions than the steady rain teams played through on Friday.

Kelly and sophomore Conor Casey each carded rounds of 72 to sit in a tie for 17th place out of 126 golfers in the individual standings. Kelly finished strong with a 34 on the back nine while Casey was off to a solid start after posting a 35 going out.

Senior Doug Stadler shot a 77 and was tied for 68th place, classmate Brett Bergman and sophomore Colin List each turned in scores of 78 and were tied for 82nd place.

Leading the tournament field after one day of play was South Carolina-Upstate, the defending tournament champion which posted a team score of 281 (-3) and was the lone squad to finish under par for the day. Bryant was in second with a score of 284 and Binghamton and Towson tied for third place with rounds of 287.

Michael Lawrence (South Carolina-Upstate), Scott Congdon (Bryant) and Chris Scialo (Towson) are in a three-way tie for the individual lead. All three shot a 68 (-3) and were among 14 players to post scores under par on the first day of competition.

Tee times on Saturday began at 7:30 a.m. and a full recap of the day will be available late Saturday night.