HATTIESBURG, Miss. – After tying for 13th place at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate two years ago, University of South Alabama head men’s golf coach Ben Hannan brought just one individual from that lineup when the Jaguars returned to the event last season.  The result was a move up to second place in the final team standings, with the Jags posting an 11-under-par 841 total in what would be their highest finish of the campaign.

Hannan will take a similar approach when USA opens the 2012-13 season at the tournament, which will be hosted by Southern Mississippi at the par-71, 6,882-yard Hattiesburg Country Club on Monday and Tuesday.

Tyler Klava and Michael Garretson — both making their collegiate debuts — recorded 54-hole scores of 209 and 211, respectively, at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate a year ago and will once again be in the lineup.  The two will be joined by seniors Tyler Brown and Jared Burleson, with sophomore Parker Jones rounding out the quintet.  Chris Bockstael will also be participating in the event as an individual for the Jaguars.

“Based on the five rounds that the team played, this is one of the most competitive qualifiers we’ve had in a while,” Hannan observed.  “Several individuals shot under par, and in doing so they raised the bar for the entire team.  To make this trip, these six guys had to play consistently well.”

Jones was the Jags’ top performer in qualifying, and is coming off a year in which he posted a 75.90 stroke average while playing 20 rounds.  He carded five scores of par or better last season, all coming in the spring as he participated in each of USA’s last six tournaments.  Jones’s best finish was a tie for 25th at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate, which was highlighted by a career-low 2-under-par 70 in the second round.

Brown joined the program this summer from Faulkner State (Ala.) C.C. after playing two years for the Sun Chiefs.  A native of Atmore, Ala., his best round at FSCC was a 5-under-par 67 on the first day of the Spring Fling national tournament.

Burleson — a teammate of Brown’s in junior college — played in four events for the Jaguars in 2011-12, his first season with the program.  In his final performance in the spring, Burleson recorded a career-low 73 over the opening 18 holes at the Memphis Intercollegiate.

Klava tied for eighth individually at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate last fall, with his 5-under-par 67 in the first round the lowest score of his career.  He would go on to post a team-best nine rounds of par or better and five top-20 performances while recording a 73.77 stroke average on the season, as he was one of three individuals on the squad to play in all 11 events and 30 rounds.

Garretson was also in the USA lineup for each tournament last year, putting together a 74.60 scoring average with six rounds where he shot par or lower.  After recording a career-best 2-under-par 69 over the final 18 holes, Garretson tied for 14th place at last fall’s Sam Hall Intercollegiate; he would go on to add four other top-30 finishes his freshman season, ending the year with a top-20 performance at the Sun Belt Conference Championships.

This will be Bockstael’s first appearance in over a year after he sat out as a redshirt during the 2011-12 campaign.  The junior had a 77.58 scoring average while playing in six events two seasons ago, which included a 228 54-hole total at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate that fall.

This year’s field includes 15 schools, with seven of those finishing among the top 100 in the nation in the final Golfweek/Sagarin ratings  last season — included in that group is Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana Tech, Mississippi, Mississippi State, the Jaguars, Sam Houston State and Southeastern Louisiana.  In addition to the host Golden Eagles, fellow Sun Belt Conference members UALR, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe will participate as well as McNeese State, Rice, Sam Houston State and Samford.

“The team’s goals are very straight forward; we want to play to our ability on a round-by round basis and expect to reach our potential each and every day,” Hannan commented.  “If we can get that production out of each individual, then the results will take care of themselves.”

The event will include 36 holes on Monday featuring an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start, while final-round play will start at 8:30 a.m. as well on Tuesday.  Live scoring for the tournament will be available at www.golfstat.com.

UAB won last year’s championship, finishing five shots ahead of the Jaguars, while USA’s Blake Kelley shared medalist honors with Jason Shufflebottam of the Blazers; the duo recorded 9-under-par 204 totals.

“Playing where you have had success before gives you positive feelings and memories when you get back there,” said Hannan.  “Interestingly enough, with the team that is travelling three of the five in the lineup haven’t seen the course.  Even though we finished second as a team there last year only two of the guys on this trip were part of that, so we will go through our normal procedure of doing our prep work in the practice round while individually making our game plans; hopefully we will execute during tournament time.”

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

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