Eagle Golf Travels to Sunshine State for Gary Koch Intercollegiate
10/1/2010 2:08:00 PM | Men's Golf
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Eagle Golf team travels to Tampa, Fla., this weekend for the Gary Koch Intercollegiate October 2-3. Georgia Southern will be one of 12 teams competing at the par 72 7,400-yard Old Memorial Golf Club.
"The Gary Koch Intercollegiate is on a good golf course," said Head Coach Larry Mays, who is in his 11th year guiding the Eagles. "We are looking forward to getting down to Florida and having the opportunity to play."
Auburn and Kentucky serve as the co-hosts of the event, which includes Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, Florida State, Georgia Southern, Middle Tennessee State, North Carolina, UNC Greensboro, North Florida, South Florida and Virginia. The field for the Gary Koch Intercollegiate includes strong competition. Eight of the 12 teams participating received berths in last year's NCAA Golf Regionals; with Florida State, Georgia Southern, North Florida and Virginia advancing to the NCAA Championships.
"We are going up against a good field," said Mays. "Most of the teams have postseason experience by making it into the NCAA Tournament and some advanced to the National Championship last year. We also will be facing a couple of our foes from our conference that will be there. It's a solid field; it will be fun to get down there and see how our team competes."
Last year the Eagles were lead by sophomore Florian Sander, who fired a 2-under 70 on the final 18 holes to give the Bregenz, Austria, native a 5-under 211 tournament total, his lowest tournament total as an Eagle. Georgia Southern finished 9th place out of a field that would go on to see 12 of the 15 teams advance to the 2010 NCAA Golf Tournament, eight of the teams making it out of their respective Regionals to the NCAA Championship.
"We played well for two and three-quarter rounds," recalled Mays. "We kind of stubbed our toe on the way to the end that cost us a good finish. We finished ninth last year which was in the middle of the pack, whereas, if we would've finished strong on the last couple of holes, we could've had a better finish."
The Eagles travel to Florida after a two-week hiatus from their last tournament, the SpringHill Suites Intercollegiate where junior Lewis Gruber (Tallahassee, Fla.) recorded his first "Top 10" finish as an Eagle. Gruber's 6-under 66 in the second round, as well as strong play by Sander and senior Logan Blondell (Lakeland, Fla.) who finished in a tie for 11th and 15th place, helped Georgia Southern finish in the Top Five.
"We have to get back to that consistency, making sure we get four solid scores in each and every round and not having to count those big numbers," said Mays. "That has been our Achilles heel starting out the first tournament. It kind of hurt us down the stretch at the SpringHill and that is what we have been trying to focus on in preparation for this tournament."
Traveling for the Eagles will be Logan Blondell, Florian Sander, Lewis Gruber, Matt Deal (Statesboro, Ga.) and Drew Guffey (Bartow, Fla.). Freshman Thomas Sharkey (Helensburgh, Scotland) will also make the trip competing as an individual.
Georgia Southern will play the first two rounds on Saturday (October 2) with the final round being played Sunday (October 3). The Eagles are paired with Middle Tennessee State and SoCon opponent College of Charleston for the first and second rounds.
