Morfeld, Mountain Lions Take First-Round Lead at UCCS Spring Invitational

COLORADO SPRINGS - Brian Morfeld shot a 3-under par 69 Monday to lead the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs into first place after the first round of the UCCS Spring Invitational at The Broadmoor's East Course.

The host Mountain Lions shot a team score of 294, seven strokes ahead of second-place Colorado State-Pueblo and 12 strokes ahead of third-place Fort Lewis. The Air Force JV team was fourth at 312, followed by Colorado School of Mines (313), Colorado Christian and Regis (each at 318), Western New Mexico (324) and Nebraska-Kearney (334).

Trailing Morfeld for top individual honors are Colorado State-Pueblo's Brandon McCoy and Chad Novak, each at 72. Tyler Bishop and Riley Andrews of UCCS, Luke Tanner of Fort Lewis and Colorado's Sebastian Heisele (competing as an individual) each shot a 72.

Other Mountain Lions included David Cosel, who tied for 15th overall with a 77, and Wade Henry, whose 79 tied him for 25th in the 53-golfer field. UCCS also had three golfers competing as individuals: Taylor Stamp (75), Chris Shoop (77) and Kevin Chan (81).

The original tournament schedule called for two rounds to be played on Monday and the third and final round on Tuesday. The spring snowstorm that hit this past weekend, however, forced officials to postpone Monday's start time to noon, making only a single round possible and shortening the tournament to two rounds. The final round will begin Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.

The UCCS Spring Championship is the third of four tournaments that, combined, will determine the champion of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. UCCS won each of the first two tournaments, both played during the fall. The final tournament will be the RMAC Championships, which will be played April 20-21 in Buckeye, Ariz.

Teams are awarded one point for each RMAC team defeated in each tournament. Since there are eight teams, the winner gets seven points, second place gets six and so on. The Mountain Lions entered the UCCS Spring Invitational with 14 points, followed by Fort Lewis (12), Western New Mexico (10) and Regis (6).

The Broadmoor East Course is one of the most storied venues in all of Colorado. Most recently, the course hosted the 2008 United States Senior Open and the 1995 U.S. Women's Open. It has also hosted five NCAA Championships and two U.S. Amateur Championships, including the famous 1959 U.S. Amateur that was Jack Nicklaus' first major victory.

Should UCCS retain its lead over CSU-Pueblo, the Mountain Lions would clinch the 2008-09 Steel & Silver Series and the Ent Federal Credit Union Trophy that goes to the winner. UCCS, which currently holds a 22-12 lead (23 points needed to clinch), has won the series in each of the three years since it began.