Nation's Best Collegiate Golfers To Compete At

Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic

Sunday, Nov. 23 Titleist Long Drive Contest (9 a.m.) PING Putting Contest (10 a.m.) College/Am Practice round (noon) Monday, Nov. 24 First and second rounds (8 a.m.) Tuesday, Nov. 25 Final round, 18 holes (8 a.m.) Trophy presentation (1 p.m.)

PLAYER BIOGRAPHIES

LIVE SCORING

EL PASO, Texas (November 17, 2008) - The field has been set and players will begin arriving Friday for the 34th annual Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic.

The tournament, which is hosted by the Sun Bowl Association, is slated for Nov. 23-25 at the par-71, 6,837-yard El Paso Country Club.

This year's tournament features six players who participated in the 2008 World Amateur Team Championships in Australia - Rickie Fowler (Oklahoma State), Nick Taylor (Washington), Jesper Kennegard (Arizona State), Jorge Campillo (Indiana), Billy Horschel (Florida) and Henrik Norlander (Augusta State).

Horschel has played in the last two Western Refining College All-America Golf Classics. In all, there are 10 returning players in the field - Horschel, Erik Flores (UCLA), Chesson Hadley (Georgia Tech), Andrew Landry (Arkansas), Trent Leon (Oklahoma State), Adam Mitchell (Georgia), Corey Nagy (Charlotte), Zach Sucher (UAB), Kyle Stanley (Clemson) and Mike Van Sickle (Marquette).

Five of the top 10 amateur golfers in the R&A World Amateur Golf Rankings will be competing in the event - No. 2 Campillo, No. 3 Fowler, No. 6 Sucher, No. 7 Mitchell and No. 10 Stanley.

In all, 13 players from 10 of the top 12 schools in the nation will be competing in the event.

"The strength of the field gets better each year," said Bob Kimble, tournament director. "Realistically, this is a quality collection of the top amateur golfers in the world. It should make for an exciting event."

Last season, the Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic ranked as the No. 1 tournament in the country for the fourth consecutive season, according to the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.

"Western Refining has done a great deal to take the nation's No. 1 golf tournament to the next level," said Bernie Olivas, Sun Bowl Association Executive Director. "We could not put on a tournament of this magnitude without the support of Western Refining. It has become a true event that the nation's best want to attend."

Throughout the years, many Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic competitors have gone on to pursue successful careers in the Professional Golfers' Association of America and on the PGA Tour. Some of the past champions include Ricky Barnes (2000), Notah Begay (1994), David Duval (1991), Matt Kuchar (1999), Davis Love III (1984), Chris Nallen (2003), Jerry Pate (1974), Nicholas Thompson (2004) and Tiger Woods (1995).

Alumni of the Golf Classic have gone on to earn more than $1 billion on the PGA Tour. In all, 133 colleges and universities have participated in the tournament, raising more than $625,000 in scholarship money for the participating institutions.

Each university is awarded a $1,000 scholarship if a golfer from that school competes in the tournament.