Malvern, Pa. – Villanova golf is set to host its home tournament, the Wildcat Invitational, Monday and Tuesday of next week at White Manor Country Club.
Play will begin with a shotgun start Monday at 9 a.m. with the second round immediately following the conclusion of the first. Tuesday's third and final round will also begin with a shotgun start at 9 a.m.
This will be Villanova's first home tournament of the year after previously participating in tournaments at Colgate and VCU. This is just the second year Villanova has hosted in the fall, and is scheduled to host in the spring again as well.
White Manor Country Club features a 6,717-yard, par-71 layout. The course was redesigned in 2003, and named one of the top 25 courses in Pennsylvania as recently as 2015.
"Playing at home is obviously great." Junior
Reb Banas said. "Having that comfort off the tee and with the greens just gives you that extra boost of confidence to go low. We expect a good showing from Nova Nation too, just adding some fuel to the fire."
Villanova's starting lineup will consist of
Noah Peck,
Jack O'Hara,
Matt Minerva,
Danny Dougherty and
Reb Banas. This will be Banas' first start of the season.
"Definitely more excited than usual to get back into the lineup," Banas said. "Not being in the lineup the last two weeks forced me to be honest with myself and evaluate where I need to improve. I'm excited where my game is at and I can't wait to get back to contributing to the team."
Mark Benevento,
Matt Davis and
Luke Alexander will all get the opportunity to compete as individuals this weekend.
Villanova finished seventh in last fall's Wildcat Invitational. Appalachian State took home the title shooting 12-over.
The field this week will include the reigning champions Appalachian State, Boston College, Delaware, Georgetown, Rhode Island and St. John's.
App State has only played one weekend this season, placing ninth at Southern Miss. BC and Delaware tied for third at the Turning Stone Invitational, each of their best finishes so far this season.
Georgetown's only action this year was an 11th place finish at the VCU invitational. Rhode Island's best finish came last weekend when they placed 2nd at Dartmouth. St. John's hosted the Doc Gimmler and finished 11th, but also play the two days prior to the Wildcat in a tournament at Yale.
"The golf course is in fantastic shape for our event," assistant coach Pat Aylward said. "We are really looking forward to the opportunity to get to see the whole team play. We have once again attracted a strong field and it should be a great event."
The forecast for the tournament is showing 75 degrees and sunny on Monday and 81 degrees and sunny on Tuesday, which should make for two great days of golf.
Follow all of the tournament's action on BirdieFire, and keep up with Villanova golf @VillanovaGolf on Twitter and Instagram.
