Linksters hope to defend at Navy Invite

The Penn State men's golf team will look to defend its title this weekend when it heads to Annapolis, Md., to tee it up in the Navy Invitational.

The Nittany Lions have dominated the tournament the past few years, finishing first in 1994 and 1996.

Lion coach Greg Nye said he is looking forward to the weekend competition, because this tournament usually features some of the best teams from the Northeast.

"It's got one of the best fields in District II," Nye said. "It should be a real battle."

This year's field is very strong, and the Penn State golfers have their work cut out for them if they want to come home with the first-place trophy again, Nye said.

"We will be trying to win," he said, "but a top finish will not be disappointing."

Penn State currently is ranked first in District II and has an undefeated district record. But the Lions will be looking to improve on its last time out on the links, when it finished 15th in the Golf Digest Intercollegiate.

Nye, in his fifth season as coach, said the final results from the tournament were deceiving because the tournament featured 13 teams ranked in the top 15 in the nation. Penn State just wasn't able to practice in the warm weather like the other teams in the field, he said.

Senior Adam Decker has been the team's top golfer this season and is swinging a hot club for the Lions.

"I feel like I'm hitting the ball pretty well right now," he said.

Nye said Decker has been a sort of hero for the team lately, and it will be looking for him to continue his hot play this weekend.

"He's one of the top performers in the district," Nye said.

Decker knows the competition will be very tough this weekend but feels the team should perform well.

"I'm real happy with how we've done in our district," he said. "If we keep this up we'll have a strong performance in the regionals and a shot at the NCAAs."

Decker said in order for the Lions to be successful this weekend they have to concentrate on their putting.

"It's been a pretty cold spring up to now, and we haven't had very much time to practice our putting," he said. "We need to be real careful on the greens and get a good feel for them."

Along with Decker, the Lions will look for solid performances from seniors Brad Kittsley and J.D. Ostrow.