March 25, 2008

The University of Houston saved their best for last as they used a strong final round to surge four spots up the leaderboad to claim sole possession of 6th-place in the Tucson National Invitational Tournament at the Omni Tucson National Golf Club in Tucson, Ariz.

Junior transfer Ben Moser (Waterloo, Ontario/ Kent State) carded three sub-par rounds en route to earning co-champion honors, along with Tulsa's Nicolas Geyger and David Markle of Kent State.

Moser ended the tournament 8-under-par (71-68-69) and notched his first collegiate victory.

"The tournament was great. The weather was great hear which made it easier for me," Moser said. "I drove the ball pretty well, stayed away from critical mistakes and made putts when I needed to."

This tournament was especially important for the Kent State transfer, as it was a chance for him to play against his old teammates.

"I circled this tournament and definitely wanted to play well against my old team," Moser said. "It nice to show them (Kent State) I can still play.

The Waterloo, Ontario native sunk three birdies and finished the back nine at two-under before a birdie-bogey-birdie trip on holes 6,7 and 8 to finish the round at three-under.

"Ben had a fantastic tournament," said head coach Vince Jarrett. "He has being playing with a lot of confidence these past couple of tournaments.

As a team, the Cougars shot the second-lowest round on the day, a 286, to jump New Mexico, Pepperdine, Sam Houston State and Notre Dame and grab sole possession of 6th-place.

Other Houston participating in the tournament were junior Brady Shivers 221 (74-74-73), senior Jordan Irwin 222 (78-74-70), junior Jackie Lindsey 227 (76-77-74) and junior Steven Frazier 229 (80-73-76)

Ahead of UH were tournament champions TCU (854) followed by Kent State (857), UNLV (864), Arizona State (866) and Arizona's "A" team (870).

Pepperdine (875), Arizona's "B" team (877), Sam Houston State (881), Notre Dame (883) and Tulsa (883) rounded out the top-10. While New Mexico (884), Iowa (885), Virginia (890) and UTEP (921) finished 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th, respectively.

Coming off back-to-back top-10 performances, the Cougars look to continue their hot streak as they travel to Augusta, Ga. to square off against Augusta State in a head-to-head contest. The match will be played at the Champions Retreat Golf Course, Mar. 4-6.