Oct. 12, 2008

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FLOURTOWN, PA - Temple rallied from 10 shots down on the back nine to win the 2008 Philadelphia Big 5 Invitational by one stroke over Seton Hall on Sunday at Philadelphia Cricket Club. The Owls owned the second best score of the day (292) and beat Drexel by nine strokes to capture city bragging rights. It marks the first tournament victory for the Cherry and White since capturing the Scotty Duncan Invitational on May 2, 2005.

"I'm so proud of these guys," head coach Brian Quinn said. "They played tremendous golf, especially on the back nine, and represented Temple University with class."

Heading into the back nine on Sunday, the Owls trailed Seton Hall and were in a battle to remain in second place as William and Mary and Drexel moved up the leaderboard. But Temple played the back in even par and used a big shot from senior Kevin Busteed for the victory.

Playing in the final group after leading the tournament with an opening round 69 (-2), Busteed faced a 240-yard approach on the difficult, 481-yard par four on the Wissahickon Course. He connected on the shot of the day for the Owls, landing within 15 feet and two-putted for par. His playing partners both bogeyed the hole, allowing Temple to sneak in for the team title.

Junior Eric Plisko played the back nine in two-under and finished with a 74-70=144 (+2). He joined Busteed (69-75=144) in fifth place in the 78-player field.

Senior Adam Pifer had four birdies and put together his best round of the season with a 72 (+1) to tie for 17th (77-72=149, +7). Sophomore Andrew Mason had a consistent 75-75=150 (+8) to tie for 24th, while classmate Joseph Kim had a 77-79=156 (+14) to tie for 48th. Sophomore Sasha Bozic shot a 74-81=155 (+13) as an individual to place 43rd.

The team victory came just six days after the Cherry and White was edged by one stroke at the St. Bonaventure Invitational by Dayton. The Owls won the ten team Scotty Duncan in 2005 with a 590 (+22)

Villanova's Brendan Kelly won individual medalist honors after defeating Binghamton's Jake Katz with a par on the first hole of the playoff. Both players shot identical 71-71=142 scores.

William and Mary (589, +21), Villanova (593, +25) and Florida Gulf Coast (595, +27) rounded out the tournament's top five teams.

Among the Philadelphia scores, Temple (587, +19, 1st) topped Drexel (596, +28, 6th), Penn (608, +40, 10th), Saint Joseph's (618, +50, 11th) and La Salle (687, +119, 15th).

Drexel's Trevor Sahn shot the tournament's lowest score with a three-under 68 on Sunday. He carded a five-under 31 on the front nine. He was joined on the all-tournament team by Kelly, Katz, Seton Hall's Colin Van Es and Dave Sampson, and Temple's Eric Plisko and Kevin Busteed.

The all-rookie team, comprised of players competing in the Big 5 Invitational, included Kelly, Katz, Sahn, Florida Gulf Coast's Josh Leppo, Harvard's Mark Pollack and William and Mary's Brent Paladino.