March 24, 2008

The University of Houston climbed two spots to finish tied for 10th-place with Arizona's "B" team after the second round of the Tucson National Invitational Tournament at the Omni Tucson National Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz.

Ahead of the Cougars are TCU (565), UNLV (576), New Mexico (576), Kent State (578), Arizona State (583), Arizona-"A" team (584), Pepperdine (584), Sam Houston State (585) and Notre Dame (587).

Houston (588) and Arizona-"B" team (588) rests in a tie for 10th followed by Tulsa (594), Virginia (595), Iowa (595) and UTEP (616).

Junior Ben Moser enjoyed one of his finest rounds as a Cougar, shooting a blistering 4-under-par (68) on the par-72, 7200-yard course. His score equaled the second-best round of the day to put him in sole possession of 3rd-place (139), two strokes behind co-leaders' Franklin Corpening (139, TCU) and Nicolas Geyger (139, Tulsa).

"Ben has been working real hard on some things and has improved tremendously," said head golf coach Vince Jarrett. "He has definitely turned the corner."

The Scarlet and White closed with a team total of 289, ten strokes better than their day 1total. Each of the top-4 Cougars all improved on their round 1 scores as well.

As a team, UH finished with the day's second-best round.

Along with Moser's 68, other UH rounds included junior Steven Frazier (73), junior Brady Shivers (74), senior Jordan Irwin (74) and junior Jackie Lindsey (75).

"I see us getting better with every round. They all turned in a solid round today and I expect another solid round to close things out tomorrow," Jarrett added.

The third and final round of the Tucson NIT will be played Tuesday (Mar. 25) at the Omni Tucson National Golf Club.