Sept. 14, 2013

BURLINGTON, Iowa - Louisiana Tech's men's golf team will open the 2013-14 season Sunday as the Bulldogs were invited as the representative from Conference USA for the fifth annual Golfweek Conference Challenge.

The Golfweek Conference Challenge is being held at a neutral site for the fourth consecutive year with the University of Iowa serving as host school. LA Tech's line-up for the first tournament of the season includes Victor Lange, John Lewis Sams, Travis Wilmore, Ben Robinson and Chuck Spears.

"I am excited to travel with these five guys," head coach Jeff Parks said. "They all played very well in qualifying. Victor [Lange] shot 7-under-par to win our qualifier and true freshman John Lewis [Sams] took second, shooting 2-under-par. Travis [Wilmore] also played well with a 68 in the second round while Ben [Robinson] and Chuck [Spears] both posted their final rounds under par. This is one of the strongest fields that we are headed to this year."

The Bulldogs enter the event ranked 13^th out of 15 teams representing 15 different conferences according to the 2013 final team rankings by Golfweek. New Mexico is the top-ranked team in the field finishing last season ranked fifth while LSU will represent the Southeastern Conference ranked 22^nd. Louisiana Tech finished the 2013 campaign ranked 102^nd. Overall, the challenging tournament field has nine teams ranked in the top 68 last year.

Louisiana Tech was invited to represent Conference USA in the program's first year as a member of the league.

Live results for the tournament can be found at GolfStat.com.

For complete coverage of Bulldog Golf, please follow @LATechGolf on Twitter and visit the official home of Louisiana Tech Athletics at LATechSports.com.

Golfweek Conference Challenge Tournament Field

Team Conference 2012-13 Final Ranking
New Mexico Mountain West 5^th
LSU Southeastern 22^nd
Oklahoma Big 12 24^th
Houston American 25^th
Virginia Tech Atlantic Coast 35^th
Chattanooga Southern 49^th
Iowa Big Ten 57^th
Ball State Mid-American 64^th
Arizona Pac-12 68^th
Central Arkansas Southland 84^th
Winthrop Big South 89^th
Jacksonville State Ohio Valley 97^th
Louisiana Tech Conference USA 102^nd
Texas State Sun Belt 118^th
Florida Gulf Coast Atlantic Sun 146^th