Golf Releases 2011-12 Schedule
9/11/2011 7:59:00 PM | Men's Golf
The spring schedule begins in Gainesville, Florida February 11-12 and will include five tournaments before the Southern Conference Championship tees off April 15-17 in Charleston, South Carolina. The spring swing is highlighted by the annual Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro, Georgia March 16-18, followed by the Gary Koch Invitational in Tampa, Florida April 7-8, the final tournament before the conference championship.
Head Coach Larry Mays returns for his twelfth season leading the Eagles, as they prepare to defend their 2010-11 Southern Conference Championship. Georgia Southern entered the final round of last year's championship down by four strokes, but rallied to post their lowest round of the season to win a third Southern Conference title for the Eagles and Coach Larry Mays.
"This first weekend is really important for us," said Mays. "It's a tournament and a course we're very familiar with. We want to try and get off to a good start, put together three solid rounds and then see where that puts us."
Returning from last year's squad will be lone senior Lewis Gruber (Tallahassee, Fla.), who finished at 8-under in last season's SoCon Championship, posting his lowest three-day total of the season (68-72-68=208) to finish in second place in the individual standings.
Sophomore Hayden Anderson (Knoxville, Tenn.) also returns with championship experience, having tied for 21st place at last year's conference championship before tying for 14th place at the NCAA Southeast Regional where he carded a 3-under 213 (73-69-71).
Junior Florian Sander (Bregenz, Austria) will add some experience as a two-year starter for the Eagles and will be joined by junior transfer Blake Olson (Pensacola, Fla.), who earned three top 10 finishes last season for West Florida.
The Eagles will also rely on youth this season as Coach Mays took advantage of a talented 2011 class of players, signing five freshmen to this year's squad, all from the state of Georgia. The fall schedule will be a good indicator of how far this team can go when the spring schedule begins.
"If we can get off to a fast start this fall, I think that will really help our younger guys," said Mays. "This first weekend we will be going up against some conference opponents and I think that will be a good test for us. The fall schedule will be a good benchmark for our team before we head into the spring."
The Eagles will play with a heavy heart this season following the passing of teammate Thomas Sharkey (Helensburgh, Scotland) in July. Eagle golfers have placed a commemorative patch on their bags and will wear ribbons on their hats to honor him this season.
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