Tournament Notes I Live Scoring
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State men’s golf team will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 9 when the team opens up play at the SunTrust Gator Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida on the par-70, 6,701 yard Mark Bostick Golf Course.
"After a solid start out in Tuscon and a great week of practice back here, I am confident that our guys are ready to have a breakthrough performance this week in Gainesville," Head Coach Jay Moseley said. "I have never seen our depth so strong and I think every one of our guys is capable of having a great finish this weekend. This is the best field we will see all Spring and will be very similar to a Regional-like competition, but I know if we play our best we will have a great chance to win. The golf course is great for us because you have to be very disciplined, patient and think your way around it. Our team is playing with great poise right now so it should make for an exciting week."
LIVE SCORING:
All 36 holes of the 14-team SuntrustGator Invitational can be followed live on the internet by logging on to
www.golfstatresults.com.
THE GATOR INVITATIONAL
This year’s SunTrust Gator Invitational field features five teams that were ranked or received votes in the final coaches’ poll of the fall season. In addition, eight of the 14 teams in this year’s field qualified for last year’s NCAA Championships.
Seven players in this year’s field were ranked in the top-50 of the final Golfweek/Sagarin inidvidual rankings of the fall season. Arkansas, Florida, Florida State,
Kennesaw State (Jimmy Beck), North Florida, and UCF all had at least one player ranked.
Some of the best in golf have captured Gator Invita- tional medalist honors including current PGA TOUR professionals Jonas Blixt (2005), Chris Couch (1994 & 1995), Chris DiMarco (1990), Billy Horschel (2009), Jeff Klauk (1998), Graeme McDowell (2002), Alex Rocha (2000), and David Toms (1989).
Over the tournament’s 35-year history, the Gators have dominated the event, capturing 23 team titles and 10 medalist honors. Last year Auburn captured the team title shooting a 279-281-288=848, +8. The Tigers also had the individual medalist as Dominic Bozzelli shot a 68-64-70=202, -8.
THE FIELD – 14 Teams
No. 12 Arkansas, No. 3 Florida, No. 22 Florida State, No. 54 Georgia Southern, No. 164 Jacksonville,
No. 64 Kennesaw State, No. 91 Lamar, No. 30 Liberty, No. 76 Memphis, No. 41 Mississippi State, No. 34 North Florida, No. 62 South Alabama, No. 85 UAB and No. 46 UCF.
THE LINEUP
|
Player |
Golfstat Ranking |
Events |
Rounds |
Strokes Avg. |
Low Round |
Best Finish |
|
Peder Lunde Hermansson |
725 |
6 |
18 |
74.61 |
65, -7 |
1st; Pinetree Intercollegiate |
|
Jimmy Beck |
63 |
5 |
15 |
72.13 |
70, -2 |
2nd; Pinetree Intercollegiate |
|
Austin Vick |
1258 |
5 |
15 |
75.47 |
68, -4 |
T6th; Autotrader.com Classic |
|
Jonathan Klotz |
1294 |
5 |
15 |
75.80 |
72, E |
T10th; Pinetree Intercollegiate |
|
Ben Greene |
534 |
6 |
18 |
74.17 |
70, -2 |
8th; Pinetree Intercollegiate |
THE COURSE – The Mark Bostick Golf Course
For over 80 years, Mark Bostick Golf Course has anchored the northwest corner of the University of Florida’s Gainesville campus. Although renowned architect Donald Ross originally designed the course during the 1920s, it has evolved over the years to take on its own distinct personality.
Contained within a 116-acre plot of land, the 6,701-yard, par-70 course is short by today’s golf standards. However, a $4 million renovation project in 2001 by Jacksonville-based architect Bobby Weed transformed the contour of the landscape, creating a course that is both physically and mentally challenging.
Beginning in 1962, the Mark Bostick Golf Course (formerly the Gainesville Golf and Country Club) has shared a special relationship with the UF golf teams. The course has been home to the Gators’ day-to-day operations through five NCAA championships (three men’s and two women’s) and 21 Southeastern Conference (13 men’s, eight women’s) titles since 1962. Several prominent golfers have called Mark Bostick Golf Course their home, including Chris DiMarco, Mark Calcavecchia, Sandra Gal, Lori Garbacz, Dudley Hart, Bob Murphy, Andy North, Deb Richard, Laurie Rinker-Graham, Camilo Villegas and Donna (Horton) White).
Each year, MBGC plays host to several championship tournaments. Included among these are the Gator Invitational, the Gator Women’s Golf Invitational and the Gator Golf Day, where alumni and current PGA Tour players return each year to support the winning tradition of Florida golf.
LAST TIME OUT
The last time out the KSU men finished seventh in the fifteen team field at the Arizona Intercollegiate on the Golf Club at Vistoso. The team shot a combined total of 871, +19. The outing ties their 19-over-par performance at the Carpet Capital Collegiate earlier this year, the second best team total behind the Pinetree Intercollegiate where the team registered a four-under-par.
For the second tournament this season,
Peder Lunde Hermansson led the Owls as he put together a 54-hole score of 210, -3 to place seventh. Hermansson was one of only 10 golfers in the 92 individual field to shoot under-par. He also collected wins over eight golfers ranked in the top-100 of the latest Golfstat.com rankings.
NOTABLES
Jimmy Beck has played eight rounds of golf including pracitce rounds in the week leading up to the Gator Inviational. Beck comes in to the tournament after placing 18th at the Jones Cup, one of the countries top amateur golf events. Held at The Ocean Forest Golf Club on Sea Island, Beck beat some of the top ranked amateur golfers in the world by shooting a three day score of 226, +10.
Austin Vick has turned up his level of play in recent tournaments. Over his last three events, spanning nine rounds of golf, Vick holds a 74.55 stroke average as well as a top-10 finish, the first of his young collegiate career.
Peder Lunde Hermansson has had a bit of a coming out party his senior year. The native of Gothenburg, Sweden has led the Owls in two of the teams last three events, registering top-seven performances in each. Over his last three tournaments, Hermansson has led the team in stroke average at 72.22.
The Kennesaw State men’s golf program has been one of the most decorated teams at KSU in recent history. Capturing the Atlantic Sun Conference title in 2011, the team finished third at the NCAA Regional in Ocala, Fla., and advanced to the programs first NCAA Championship in Stillwater, Okla. In 2012, the team received Kennesaw State’s first ever at-large bid to an NCAA Regional where the team finished ninth at the Ann Arbor Regional. Led by fourth year head coach Jay Moseley, the 2011 A-Sun Men’s Coach of the Year, the Owls are looking for their third consecutive NCAA appearance in 2013.
Keep up with Owls men’s golf by following KSU on Twitter at
@KSUOwlNation at
@KSUOwlsMensGolf, or by liking Kennesaw State Owls on Facebook.
Kennesaw State University is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
