The Villanova golf team kicked off their 2009 season at the 16th annual Navy Fall Golf Classic in Annapolis, Maryland, this past weekend. The team earned a fourth place team finish, shooting a 577, good for nine over par in two rounds of golf.

Villanova junior Brendan Kelly tied for third place in the Navy tournament, finishing behind two nationally-ranked golfers from Northwestern University. Kelly, who was named to the PING All-Northeast Region team in his sophomore season, shot two rounds of 69 and finished four under par.

The Wildcats also received positive contributions from sophomores Brian Colbert and Bret McGaughey. Colbert placed 14th in the tournament, shooting a round of 69 and a round of 75, good for two over par. Shooting a 74 in the first round and a 73 in the second round, McGaughey finished five over par and placed 24th among the 91 participants.

Freshman Steve Skurla turned in a 36th place finish, shooting seven over par and junior Colin List finished 54th in the field, shooting 10 over par.

The other Philadelphia Big Five teams didn’t fare as well as well as the boys in blue. Saint Joseph’s placed seventh, Temple placed 11th, and La Salle placed 17th in the weekend tournament, and Philadelphia-area school Drexel finished in fifth place.

The Villanova Wildcats travel to Farmingdale, New York, to golf on Bethpage Black for the McLaughlin next weekend for their second tournament of the 2009 season.