Oct. 24, 2006

Results

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Freshman Kyle Peterman fired a 2-under-par 70 on Tuesday's final round en route to a 213 (77-66-70) and a first-place tie at the Mason Rudolph Intercollegiate. The Sherman, Ill., native led the Tigers to a fifth-place finish, two strokes ahead of sixth-place Rice.

"It's kind of hard to explain right now, but it feels great," Peterman said of his first collegiate win. "I was just focusing on trying tot help the team and shoot a good number. I had been hitting the ball really well, and I just needed my putting to come around. I got a tip from Ian (Rochester) on my putting and it worked out great on the second day, so I think that was the key to shooting a low number and helping out the team."

The Tigers fired an 888 (301-298-289) at the three-day event and used the momentum of a 12 stroke improvement to jump from eighth place on Monday to fifth place at the end of round three. Memphis finished just two strokes behind fourth-place UT-Chattanooga, four strokes behind co-runners up North Florida and Vanderbilt and 12 strokes behind tournament champion Ole Miss.

Peterman opened the tournament with a 5-over-par 77, but quickly rebounded by finishing the next two rounds a combined 8-under-par. His second-round total of 66 tied the fifth-lowest round in school history, and Tuesday's 70 completed a comeback from a 44th place tie after day one.

"Kyle got off to a rough start, but he finished his first round birdie-eagle-par. I think that just got him going and got him some confidence," head coach Grant Robbins said. "Kyle is the type of player that when things are going well and he has some confidence going he can shoot really low numbers. He's not afraid to go low. It's tough following up a low round like what he had on Monday, but he did a great job today."

Sophomore Brad Benjamin rebounded from a second-round 79 to record an even-par 72 on Tuesday and finished tied for 27th. Benjamin totaled 225 (74-79-72) to finish two strokes behind the top-20.

Freshman Mark Trow shot a 1-over-par 73 on Tuesday, shaving five strokes off of his second round total of 78. The Oswesrty, Wales, native turned in a three-day total of 226 (75-78-73) to claim a share of 31st.

Junior Ian Rochester totaled 78 on Tuesday's final round and turned in a 228 (75-75-78) on his way to a tie for 39th, and classmate Kyle Ritchie totaled a 233 (79-80-74) to round out the lineup.

After returning to Memphis, the Tigers will prepare to wrap up their fall schedule this weekend when they travel to North Carolina for the Landfall Tradition hosted by UNC Wilmington Oct. 27-29.

"We're getting closer to where we want to be," Robbins said. "They came back today and had our best round of the year so far. We had four solid rounds today and we were only four shots out of second so we have something to build on the rest of the way. If we can just work more on getting the most out of every round, I think we're really close to turning the corner."