Eagle Golf in Fifth-Place Tie at NCAA Southeast Regional
5/19/2011 9:58:00 PM | Men's Golf
OCALA, Fla. - The Georgia Southern Golf team began the 2011 NCAA Southeast Regional by shooting a first-round 285 (-3) for a fifth-place tie with Oregon on Thursday, May 19th. Senior Logan Blondell led the Eagle charge with a 3-under 69 to go into the second round in a tie for eighth place. Florida, playing host to the 14-team field at the par-72, 6,994-yard Golden Ocala Golf Club, leads the tournament with a 6-under 282. Oregon's Jack Dukeminier sits atop the individual standings with a 6-under 66.
"We got off to a good start and we are now one third of the way through," said Head Coach Larry Mays. "Logan's (Blondell) 69 was a good round and Florian (Sander) had three incredible up-and-downs around the course today. Hayden (Anderson) and Matt (Deal) also played very well today. We did our job today and need to do that the rest of the way to advance. Our team had four good rounds today, but we are going to need eight more solid rounds to have a shot at going to the next level."
Georgia Southern tied its best opening round score to par at an NCAA Regional in program history at 3-under. The previous best round came in 2005 when the Eagles shot a 3-under 281 at the par-71 Golf Club of Tennessee to open the NCAA East Regional. The 18 holes played by GSU on Thursday also marks the second-consecutive outing that the Eagles have carded one of their three lowest rounds of the season.
"We are focused and have the mentality that we want to play our best golf at the end of the year," stated Mays on the team's performance so far. "They set some goals and want to achieve them. They are relaxed and having fun which leads to good scores."
Only four teams are in front of Georgia Southern, the 2011 Southern Conference Champion, as the second round of the 54-hole tournament resumes tomorrow, May 20th. The Eagles are three strokes behind Florida (-3) and two off of second-place Arkansas (-5). Baylor and N.C. State are tied for third place at 4-under. The top five teams in the regional advance to the NCAA Championships at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla., May 31st-June 5th.
Finishing second at the 2010 NCAA Southeast Regional in Atlanta, Blondell started this year's regional in contention for individual medalist honors again. The Lakeland, Fla., native carded two birdies on the front nine to start the final nine holes at even-par. Blondell stayed in red for the remainder of the day with back-to-back birdies on the par-3 11th and par-5 12th and concluded his bogey free back-nine with a birdie on the par-5 18th for a 3-under 69.
Florian Sander (Bregenz, Austria) finished the first day in an 11th-place tie with a 1-under 71. The sophomore played the front-nine at 1-under par, before firing birdies on the 10th and 18th holes to maintain his position. Matt Deal (Statesboro, Ga.) is one stroke behind Sander at even-par 72. Deal's clean front-nine, along with three birdies on the back-nine helped the senior close the first round in a 25th-place tie.
Hayden Anderson (Knoxville, Tenn.), who had the Eagles' first tee time of the day, sparked the team's round with two birdies on the first five holes. Anderson made the turn at even-par and used a birdie on the 11th hole to end his round at 1-over in a tie for 32nd place. The 73 carded by the freshman ties his second-lowest round since March, when he shot a first-round 73 at the Schenkel Invitational. Junior Lewis Gruber (Tallahassee, Fla.) finished out his first round at 11-over.
Georgia Southern is paired with Oregon and N.C. State for the second round. Lewis Gruber tees off first for the Eagles at 8:50 a.m. on hole No.1. Each player will follow in 10-minute increments.
Live round-by-round scoring of the Southeast Regional is available at www.golfstat.com.
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