The men’s golf team will head back to the links this weekend after a long layoff. The Falcons will be in Huntington, West Va., on the campus of Marshall University for the Marshall Invitational.

The tournament will take place on Friday and Saturday and will be played at the Guyan Golf and Country Club.

The last time the Falcons saw action was on March 8 as they took part in the Big Red Classic in Ocala, Florida. The Falcons finished 14th at this tournament, and got strong individual performances from Chris Leake and Craig Pickerel.

Leake finished with a score of 149 for two rounds, as the third round was cancelled due to weather conditions. Leake tied for 41st place.

Pickerel shot a 151 for two rounds, good enough to tie for 52nd place in the tournament.

Austin Chase, Bud Ziglar, Eric Lauderbach, and Andy Miller also competed for the Falcons at Lake Diamond Country Club.

The Marshall Invitational will feature some of the best teams in the country, as well as some Mid-American Conference schools such as Miami, Ball State and of course Marshall. Pickerel, for one, welcomes the challenge.

“We are looking forward to playing some of the best teams in the country,” Pickerel said. “It will be a good experience for us.”

Head coach Garry Winger agrees that it will be a great experience for the Falcons, and it should be very exciting for his players to play in such a strong field.

“This is a great tournament that has the best field of the year, so if they are not excited about this week then something is wrong,” Winger said.

Although the weather last week was a lot nicer for the Falcons to practice in, last weekend set the Falcons back a bit. The weather last weekend was awful for the Falcons to practice in, according to Winger.

Winger does not feel his team is to the point it should be in terms of preparation.

“We are not as prepared as I would like at this point,” Winger said. “We still have a couple of days though depending on the weather.”

Most of the Falcons have never played at Marshall, and Winger feels the practice round will be crucial as far as preparation.

“Three of the five players have never played there, so we will have to do our homework in the practice round to prepare ourselves,” Winger said.

Winger expects Pickerel to continue his improvement this weekend, even though he is one of the players who has never played at Marshall.

“I am looking for Craig to have a nice tournament,” Winger said.

After the tournament at Marshall, the Falcons will be in action next weekend in Dayton on the campus of Wright State for the Wright State Invitational.