Auburn Looks To Build Momentum At The Ridges - AuburnTigers.com - Auburn University Official Athletic Site

Auburn Looks To Build Momentum At The Ridges Glenn Northcutt leads the Tigers in the No. 1 slot

Glenn Northcutt and hea coach Mike Griffin

Oct. 22, 2008

AUBURN - The Auburn men's golf team is set to compete in the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate at the par-72, 7,001-yard Ridges Golf and Country Club in Johnson City, Tenn., Friday through Sunday.

Senior Glenn Northcutt, who led Auburn with a second-place finish in the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate, will lead the Tigers in the No. 1 position. Junior Cole Moreland will occupy the No. 2 slot followed by freshmen Cory Gilmer, Kyle Kopsick and Rossen Anderson at Nos. 3, 4 and 5 positions, respectively.

"We played a great tournament last week," said head coach Mike Griffin. "We need to come out and continue to get these young guys some experience and build their confidence along the way. We're a young team but if we can do every round what we did in the last two rounds of the Jerry Pate, we can hold our own this year."

This will be Auburn's 10th appearance at The Ridges with its best showing coming in a second-place result in 2005.

"The Ridges is very hilly, but in a different way from the course we played last week," said Griffin. "Old Overton had those drastic drops. At the Ridges, you play long holes with longer elevation changes. It's a good golf course. Our guys always enjoy playing it. The field is good as always."

The Bank of Tennessee will mark Anderson's debut as a Tiger following a redshirted 2007-08 season, making for Auburn's third lineup in four events.

"Rossen (Anderson) is a great kid," said Griffin. "He'll do well. We're all expecting him to do good things this week."

Northcutt's second-place finish at the Jerry Pate was good enough to earn him SEC Golfer of the Week honors and is currently ranked 20th by the Golfweek individual player ratings.

The 2008 Bank of Tennessee field includes Auburn, Coastal Carolina, host East Tennessee State, Kent State, Ole Miss, Missouri, North Carolina, NC State, Ohio State, No. 14 Tennessee, UAB, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wake Forest.

Following Thursday's practice round, Auburn will play the opening 18 holes Friday. Live scoring of the Ridges Intercollegiate can be found at www.golfstat.com.