By: KSU Sports Information
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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State men’s golf team is ready to defend its Atlantic Sun Conference Title as it is set to host the 2012 Atlantic Sun Men’s Golf Championships in Braselton, Ga., at the Chateau Elan Legends Golf Club starting on Monday morning.
The Black and Gold are looking to become the fourth school to win back-to back A-Sun Championships in the last 10 years as Central Florida did it in 2003 and 2004, Jacksonville accomplished the feat in 2005 and 2006 and East Tennessee State was the most recent school to do it winning four-straight from 2006-10.
Kennesaw State is coming into the Championships off one of its best wins of the season as it showed how deep, and talented, it is as a team as it won the Memphis Intercollegiate last weekend without All-American senior Jeff Karlsson.
KSU outlasted host-school No. 43 Memphis by one stroke thanks to the fantastic play of junior Ben Greene. The Duluth, Ga. native shot a 215, -1 to win the individual title for the tournament, and he also sank a 20 foot putt on the 54th hole to give the Black and Gold the tournament win in dramatic fashion.
The Owls enter the tournament as the second-highest ranked team in the field as they are ranked 41st by Golfstat.com. North Florida represents the highest ranked team in the event, and should be KSU’s biggest obstacle in trying to repeat, as the Ospreys are ranked 8th in the nation. No. 88 Florida Gulf Coast, No. 89 Mercer, No. 112 East Tennessee State, No. 144 Jacksonville, No. 152 USC Upstate, No. 203 Belmont, No. 221 Stetson and No. 244 Lipscomb round out the rest of the field.
"We are looking forward to competing this week at the A-Sun Championship,” head coach Jay Moseley said. “The golf course sets up well for our team and I know we are prepared to play well. It will be important for us to stay focused and patient all week. This team has worked hard all year for this week so we just need to stay in control of the things we can control and we will be fine"
Last season, Kennesaw State dominated the A-Sun Championships as it shot an 845, -7 to win the tournament by nine strokes over UNF. The 845 total put up by the Black and Gold was the lowest team score in the A-Sun Championship since 2006 when Jacksonville also shot an 845 to win. Karlsson won the individual title for the Owls as well last season shooting a 207, -6 as he became the first KSU player to ever win the event.
The lineup for the Owls will be No.1 Matt Nagy, No.2 Ben Greene, No.3 Jimmy Beck, No.4 Jonathan Klotz and No.5 Kelby Burton.
Players will begin first round play at 8 a.m. For updates throughout the tournament, you can follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlsMensGolf.
