Campus buzz, Jan. 31

In the interest of getting more news and information out to college golf fans, I'm going to introduce a regular department linking you to various stories about college golfers from around the country. If you see anything that I'm missing, don't be afraid to make a comment and I'll do my best to follow up.

Unfortunately, this week starts with a horrible story out of Ball State University, where freshman Travis Smith, the team's second-best scorer, died Jan. 27 in a car accident in Muncie, Ind. Here is a link to a story in the Muncie Star Press and a link to the tribute on the Ball State website. Interestingly, one of Smith's best friends is Ohio State basketball sensation Greg Oden, who grew up with Smith in Terre Haute. On a lighter note, the Kraft Nabisco Championship announced its amateur invitees for the LPGA first major championship of 2007, held March 26-April 1. Collegians Jennie Lee of Duke, Taylor Leon of Georgia, Dewi-Claire Schreefelof USC and Stacy Lewis of Arkansas are among the six named, along with junior players Kimberly Kim and Esther Choe (Arizona bound next September). First Division I men's event of the spring concluded yesterday when UNLV won the Ping-Arizona Intercollegiate by four shots over BYU. Most amazing part of the event was that Brian Prouty, an Arizona senior, was medalist after missing the entire fall with a wrist injury. It didn't stop him from shooting an opening-round 62 that broke the tournament record. For full results, here's the Golfstat link.