KISSIMMEE, Fla. – When action gets underway Monday morning at the NCAA Kissimmee Regional the University of South Alabama men's golf team will be represented by individual qualifier Yannick Schütz.

The sophomore from Friolzheim, Germany — one of 45 student-athletes across the nation to receive a bid to compete individually — is the 13th Jaguar in the history of the program to accomplish the feat after posting a 72.04 scoring average and six top-20 finishes this year.  Thus far this season he has shot par or better in 11 of 24 rounds, posting a 54-hole score under par at four events.

There are 14 teams and five individuals competing in the regional, and the top five squads and the low individual not from those programs will move on to the NCAA Championships, which will begin in Stillwater, Okla., on May 25.  Play will tee off from Nos. 1 and 10 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with 18 holes scheduled each day beginning at 6:30 a.m. (CDT).

2018 South Alabama NCAA Regional notes

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Event (host): NCAA Kissimmee Regional (Central Florida)
Dates: 5/14-16 (Monday-Wednesday)
Start times: 6:30 a.m. (CDT) start from split tees every day
Course: Reunion Resort Watson Course (par 72, 7,154 yds)
Live scoring: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=pairings&tid=15136

THE FIELD — TEAMS (14)
#5 Vanderbilt, #8 Florida, #17 North Carolina, #20 South Florida, Kent State, Arizona, Purdue, Colorado State, Saint Mary's (Calif.), Central Florida, Coastal Carolina, Jacksonville State, Georgetown, Central Connecticut State

THE FIELD — INDIVIDUALS (5)
Steven Fisk (Georgia Southern), R.J. Keur (Alabama-Birmingham), Yannick Schütz (South Alabama), Billy Tom Sargent (Western Kentucky), Saptak Talwar (Sacred Heart)

THE JAGUAR LINEUP
-Yannick Schütz (So., Friolzheim, Germany; 24 rds, 72.04 avg, 6 T20, 67 low 2 18, 210 low 54; 11 rds =/- par)

TEE SHOTS
-There will be a total of 75 competitors in the field.
-Schütz is the first Jaguar to earn an individual bid to an NCAA Regional since current junior Peter Staalbo accomplished the feat in 2016.
-The sophomore qualified after reducing his scoring average by nearly four shots per round from his figure a year ago.
-He enters play ranked third in the Sun Belt both in stroke average and score against par (0.42).
-All 11 of Schütz' rounds at or below par this year have come during the spring season.
-Not only has he recorded a team-best six top-20 results, Schütz has placed among the top 25 individually at every event except for his season debut at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate Oct. 3-4.
-Schütz has finished below par over 54 holes at four tournaments in 2017-18, the most by a Jag since Michael Garretson turned the trick on five occasions during the 2013-14 campaign.
-The last two members of the program to participate as an individual at an NCAA Regional in Florida — Marc-Etienne Bussieres in 2009 and Jack Hiluta in '11 — have ended the event with a three-round total under par.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Ben Hannan
On preparing for the NCAA Regional: "Yannick is a very good player and he has had a great year, if he can show up and make a few putts and execute like he typically does he'll have an opportunity at week's end to move on.  Regarding the preparation that we've put in, this has been a chance for us to continue to work on things with the extended season: fine tuning little things mechanically, talking a lot about course management, and strategizing while setting up plans for his game and how he plays to maximize what he does."
On what Schütz needs to do to have a chance to advance to the NCAA Championship: "Our big thing is always to focus on the present tense and to control the controlables, we have a saying that if you just play good golf the rest takes care of itself.  The reality is we don't know what the number is going to be for Yannick to move on, so our focus is to be prepared.  If he executes and takes advantage of opportunities hopefully his score will be good enough, in this game there is not much else you can do."
On being with Schütz all 18 holes each day at the regional: "This will be a great opportunity for me because I typically will bounce around between players at our events, so to be able to walk 54 holes with Yannick will really allow me to continue to learn about his game — choices he makes and how he reacts to certain situations — and hopefully help him here and there with some decision making.  It's going to be a good learning experience, especially with Yannick qualifying as a sophomore, to put things in place to help him for the next two years."

Yannick Schütz
On his reaction to learning about the invitation to participate in the regional: "When we finished at the Sun Belt Conference Championship everyone was disappointed that we didn't make it, but Coach Hannan came up to me and said that my journey might not be over yet.  Although I can't go home early, I get the chance to play in another nice tournament, and when I learned that the NCAA Championship is broadcast on Golf Channel I realized this is a bigger deal than I thought it was so I was pretty excited."
On what he is working on in preparation for the event: "I like that I can design my practice the way I want it to be and that I can work with Coach Hannan to focus on things I need to work on.  It feels special and also feels like what life will be like when I turn professional."
On what he needs to do well to qualify for the NCAA Championship: "I've played in a lot of good tournaments and finished in the top 20 often in a lot of good fields so my expectations are the same, I'm going there trying to play my best golf.  I don't know that I have to do anything different than what I have done before to advance, I just have to stick to my plan to give myself the best chance to do that."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Birdie Club — the men's golf specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund. All donations to the Birdie Club go directly to support the South Alabama men's golf program. For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/birdieclub.

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