POOLER, Ga. - Senior Logan Blondell and Freshman Will Evans fired rounds of 5-under 67 and 1-under 71 on the first day of the 2010 Mizuno Savannah Intercollegiate to finish in a tie for fourth place going into tomorrow's final round. Host Georgia Southern and the rest of the 14-team field are chasing Florida Gulf Coast who shot two sub-par rounds for a 20-under 556 (281-275), at the par-72 7,016 yard Savannah Quarters Country Club.
Leading the way for Florida Gulf Coast is Daniel Mazziotta who fired a 67 on the last 18 holes of the day, which is tied with Blondell for the tournaments lowest second round. Mazziotta is tied with Georgia College and State's Joe Young for second place. Both men trail Wofford's Mark Joye, who carded a pair of 68s on the day to finish at 8-under 136. Joye and the Terriers are in second place after recording a team score of 571 (287-284). Troy University is two strokes back of Wofford in third place with a score of 573 while Jacksonville (285-290=575) and Winthrop (291-286=577) round out the Top 5. Georgia Southern goes into tomorrow's final round in 13th place; five strokes separate the Eagles from the Top 10.
"Obviously we're disappointed and downright embarrassed in the way we played today," stated Head Coach Larry Mays. "We had a couple bright spots in Logan Blondell, playing as part of the team, who is tied for fourth after two rounds and Will Evans, a freshman playing as an individual, both shot 6-under 138 after two rounds."
The 5-under 67 was a season low round for both players. Blondell's first round 1-under 71 tied his second lowest round of the year. The Lakeland, Fla., native's previous low-18 was a 1-under 71 recorded on the final round at the Gary Koch Invitational two weeks ago. Evans, season's best before today, was a 76 at the SpringHill Suites Intercollegiate.
Junior Lewis Gruber (Tallahassee, Fla.) goes into the final round in a tie for 48th at 5-over 149 (74-75), Senior Matt Deal (Statesboro, Ga.) is two strokes behind Gruber in a tie for 55th place. Rounding out the team is Florian Sander (Bregenz, Austria) and Jake Ware (Statesboro, Ga.) who are both looking to battle back from their tied-65th and tied-68th place respectively.
Competing as an individual, Thomas Sharkey (Helensburgh, Scotland) fired a 1-under 71 in the second round for a tied-35th going into the final day. Other Eagles competing as individuals in the 2010 Mizuno Savannah Intercollegiate are Drew Guffey (Bartow, Fla.) and Hayden Anderson (Knoxville, Tenn.).
Georgia Southern will look to a consistent final round from its five-man team, which has been has been made up of different players every tournament so far this season.
"We talk about better focus, better concentration and the will to not give in. If you hit a bad shot, you have to move past it and be scrappy and get the job done," said Mays. "Right now, we're just giving up too many loose shots and we're a little sloppy and unfocused which is costing us in our rounds."
The final round of competition begins at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. Elon, Davidson and Georgia College and State University tee off first on the front nine. Georgia Southern players will begin teeing off on the back nine at 8:18 a.m.
Complete results from each round of the tournament will be posted on the 2010 Mizuno Savannah Intercollegiate tournament page at www.GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com. Fans can also receive tournament updates at twitter.com/GSScores and facebook.com/GSAthletics. For more information on the tournament, click here to access the tournament page.
