COLUMBUS - Together again.

Justin Collins and Ryan Hurley last played a round of tournament golf together as seniors for the Ironton Fighting Tigers in the 1998 state tournament.

Collins, a former state medalist, and Hurley helped Ironton with three straight state championships and finished once as runners-up. Collins signed with Ohio State and Hurley headed for the University of Louisville.

But Hurley later transferred to Ohio State and elected to walk-on the golf team.

Now seniors, Collins and Hurley qualified for Ohio State's first fall tournament as the No. 1 and No. 3 men, respectively. They will play together for the first time this weekend at the Northern Intercollegiate on the campus of the University of Michigan.

The 54-hole tournament on the par 71, 6,702-yard Michigan Gold Course

begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with 36 holes. The final round of 18 holes will start at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Joining Ohio State in the field will be Akron, Ball State Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Marshall, Miami (Ohio), Michigan, Northern Illinois, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin and Xavier.

Collins was redshirted during the 2002-03 season. Prior to his redshirt season, Collins posted 77 total rounds during his collegiate career, while recording a scoring average of 76.5.

In his three years prior to his redshirt season, Collins had posted Top 10 finishes at the Aztec Invitational where he tied for second and at the Matlock Invitational on March 6-7,2000 where he tied for ninth.

Hurley played 15 rounds in five tournaments as a freshman at Louisville before transferring to Ohio State. He averaged just over 76 strokes per round.

Hurley's best collegiate round is a 2-under 70, shot at the Beau Chene Collegiate Classic, March 27, 2000.