April 23, 2007

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KETTERING, Ohio - During the entire spring season freshman Kenny Wittenberg has been waiting to bust and play his style of golf.

On the familiar NCR South Course, Wittenberg turned in a stellar performance leading the Dayton Flyers to a seventh place finish after rounds one and two of the UD Spring Invitational.

Wittenberg fired back-to-back scores of 78 to finish tied for 14th.

"Kenny played a lot better than his score," head coach Drew Tyrer said. "He's driving the ball well and getting his game is coming together. He's been waiting for this for a while and it's good to see him come through."

The good news for the Flyers is UD is eight shots out of the second place spot. Tyrer believes if his team can hover around the 300 mark on Tuesday, the Flyers have a shot to potentially win their invitational.

In the first round, Wittenberg started off strong shooting a 78 in round one thanks to back-to-back 39s. But a slow start in round two almost took him out of the running. He was six shots over par after the first four holes of round two, but battled back the rest of the way with a one-over par in the final 14 holes.

Surprises seemed to be the theme of the day for the Flyers. Among the Flyers playing as individuals, sophomore Mitch Custenborder put together a solid performance with a first round score of 79 and a second round score of 77. He is tied for 14th.

"He hits the ball a long way," Tyrer said. "He drove No. 17, a 352 par-four hole, on to the green. He stuck to his game plan well today."

Right behind was senior Sam Morton with a veteran performance. After scoring an 83 in round one, he battled back for a 77 in the second round.

"Sam is very gritty. He was hitting it all over the course today, but he knows how to score. That's what matters most at the end of the day. He's working hard."

One of the reasons for UD's success was the amount of alumni, spectators, administrators and NCR members coming out to watch and support the golfers in attendance.

"We've got to thank our parents, our golf alumni, our general alumni and members of NCR," Tyrer said. "We had 10 NCR members who volunteered their time and NCR volunteered their course to make this a great tournament. We can't thank them enough."

Senior John Zaller followed with a round one score of 79 in round one thanks to a four stroke improvement on the back nine. In round two, Zaller shot an 82 battling the greens the entire afternoon.

In fourth for the Flyers was sophomore Mark Juve who showcased an 84 in round one and a 79 in the second.

Another individual with a great second round was freshman JD Seymour. He shot an 85 in round one, but battled back with a 79 in the second. Sophomore Nick Trubee also improved significantly rallying with 78 in round two after tallying an 87 in the first round.

Freshman Nick Miller tallied two rounds of 83, while freshman Rob Chappell started off with a solid score of 80 in round one, but couldn't keep up the pace and finished round two with an 87.

Rounding out the Flyers was freshman John Hennessey with round one and two scores of 92 and 87.

After two rounds of play, Wisconsin Green Bay leads the tournament with a total score of 618. In second is Wright State and Malone at 628, followed by Bowling Green State, Youngstown State and Saint Joseph's.

The Flyers will continue the UD Spring Invitational on Tuesday with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.

"It was a tough place to play," Tyrer said. "We haven't seen the course play that tough all year in our practice sessions. I think we strayed from our game plan throughout the day. Tomorrow, we're going to be back on board and playing to attack like we should have today."