July 17, 2006

Members of the University of Memphis men's golf team are taking advantage of playing opportunities this summer and are posting impressive scores across the country and beyond. The last two weeks have been especially busy for the Tigers as sophomore Brad Benjamin finished fourth at the Legends Invitational, junior Robbie Greenwell took third at the Ontario Amateur, sophomore Jordan Payne made the cut at the North-South Amateur, and junior Kyle Ritchie advanced to the second round of match play at the U.S. Amateur Public Links.

Benjamin struggled early at the Legends Invitational in Roscoe, Ill., with an opening round 74 on July 8. However, Benjamin's second round score of 67 proved to be the lowest scoring final round at the Legends and vaulted him into a tie for fourth.

Payne, who has transferred from Arkansas, was just as impressive the same week at the North-South Amateur in Pinehurst, N.C. Payne shot 74-70 in the stroke play rounds of the amateur tournament and earned a spot in the stroke play competition.

Greenwell, a native of Georgetown, Ontario, played well the following week at his home province's amateur tournament. Greenwell opened the tournament with a 68 to take lead after the first day. However, Greenwell was unable to hold off Andrew Parr, who fired back-to-back 67's to take medalist honors. Greenwell made a final round charge with another 68 to claim third place and a spot representing Ontario at the 2006 Canadian Amateur next month.

Not to be outdone, Ritchie participated in the 81st annual U.S. Amateur Public Links. The transfer from Tulane showed what he was capable of after advancing through the stroke play portion of the tournament with a 147, which was good enough to make the cut. In the opening round of stroke play, the 40th-seeded Ritchie upset the 25th-seeded Adam Wynia after 20 holes of play.

Ritchie then matched up with eighth-seeded Derek Berg from the University of Washington. Ritchie was down five holes to Berg at the turn and would go on to lose, but not before mounting an impressive comeback on the back nine to close the margin to 2 and 1.