Aug. 28, 2009

The University of Memphis golf team opens its season Sunday when the inaugural Golfweek Conference Challenge tees off in Riverside, Iowa. Memphis will represent Conference USA in the field of 15 highly ranked universities from around the country.

Golweek's Conference Challenge marks the beginning of the 2009-10 college golf season and features only one team from each conference, all competing in a 54-hole stroke play format. Golfweek's editorial staff will also provide complete coverage of the event.

Fifteen men's teams will compete in this year's Golfweek's Conference Challenge: Florida State (ACC), Xavier (Atlantic 10), Baylor (Big 12), South Florida (Big East), Coastal Carolina (Big South), Iowa (Big 10), Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial), Memphis (Conference USA), Illinois State (Missouri Valley), California (Pac 10), Vanderbilt (SEC), Georgia Southern (Southern), Texas-Arlington (Southland), Middle Tennessee State (Sun Belt) and New Mexico State (Western Athletic).

The Tigers tee off in the Golfweek Conference Challenge on Sunday, August 30th. Keep up with all the action at gotigersgo.com

-www.gotigersgo.com-

The Squad

The five golfers competing for the Tigers this week are: Brandon Bunn, Lexus Keoninh, Philip Breeding, Jack Belote, and Jonathan Fly.

-Brandon Bunn is one of four seniors expected to anchor the team this fall. He also has the most tournament experience of any returning letter-winner. One of only three tigers to compete in all seven competitions last spring, Bunn posted a 76.4 round average in 2008-09. Bunn also finished T27th in the 2009 Conference USA Championship.

-Jack Belote returns for his sophomore year after making an immediate impact in his first season as a Tiger. He competed in 10 of 11 tournaments, posting three top-20 finishes to go along with a 75.4 round average. In his first event as a Tiger last fall, Belote carded rounds of 76-68-71 to finish T17th at the Mason Rudolph Championship. He was tabbed "Conference USA Male Golfer of the Week" for the performance.

-Philip Breeding, a redshirt junior from Morristown, Tenn., looks to have a strong showing this week. He carries a career round average of 77.8, with a low finish of T33rd at last year's Memphis Intercollegiate.

-Junior Jonathan Fly will be competing in his first event as a Memphis Tiger, after transferring from Auburn. Fly, a native of Memphis, redshirted his freshman year (2007-08) and began competing for Auburn in the spring of 2009. He played in three total events, holding a scoring average of 75.4 and posting a top finish of T-32nd at the Florida State Seminole Intercollegiate. Fly also posted finishes of T-71st and T-81st at the John Burns Intercollegiate and Schenkel EZ-GO Invitational, respectively.

-Lexus Keoninh, a freshman from Murfressboro, Tenn., will be making his debut in Tiger blue this week. He comes to Memphis after an impressive prep career. He was considered one of the best prospects of 2009 in the state of Tennessee and was consistently ranked in the top-100 in the country by Junior Golf Scoreboard. He finished in the top-20 in this year's State Open, as well as finishing third at the Tennessee State High School Championship. He won the 2008 Rutherford County Open by shooting rounds of 66-73. Keoninh also qualified for the prestigious Callaway Junior World Championship in San Diego.