Nov. 2, 2009

A strong second-round rally has kept the Florida Atlantic University men's golf team in contention after Monday's opening day of the Stetson Invitational in Deland, Fla. The team is tied for second place among the nine teams in the final tournament of the fall season.

The Owls shot a one-under-par 287 team score over the second 18 holes played on the 7,082-yard, par-72 Victoria Hill's Country Club layout. That gave the team a 587 score for the first 36 holes to tie the host Hatters and trail leader Florida Gulf Coast University by 19 stokes.

Senior Ben Silverman carded two identical one-under-par 71 scores and stands in a tie for fifth place individually with a 142 score. Junior Kelly McHugh is tied with Silverman after shooting a season-low 67 score in the second round. McHugh's previous best score was a 68 in the final round of the Bethune-Cookman Tournament on October 25.

Sophomore Carl McCauley shot consecutive rounds of 74 to tie for 14th place with a 148 score. Fellow sophomore Michael Baskovich carded a three-over-par 75 in the second round and sophomore Justin Thompson rounds out the team with a 155 score after tallying a 76 in the second 18 holes played on Monday.

The final 18 holes in the tournament will be played on Tuesday, beginning at 8 a.m.

Team Scores:

1) Florida Gulf Coast 564; T-2) Florida Atlantic and Stetson 583; 4) Murray State 585; 5) University of South Carolina-Upstate 594; 6) Rollins College 607; 7) Jacksonville Univ. 610; 8) Bethune-Cookman Univ. 614; 9) Lipscomb Univ. 621

Individual Scores:

T-5) Ben Silverman 142; T-5) Kelly McHugh 142; T-14) Carl McCauley 148; T-19) Michael Baskovich 151; T-29) Justin Thompson