WEST POINT, Miss. – After finishing 15th at the Schenkel Invitational, the University of South Alabama's men's golf team seeks to gain momentum before heading to the Sun Belt Conference Championship. The squad will conclude its spring season by traveling to West Point, Miss. to play in the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship hosted by Mississippi State Monday and Tuesday.
"This is a very talented team. At different times throughout the year they have shown their ability by shooting some very low scores," USA head coach Ben Hannah explained. "We need to get back to doing what we do, which is simply concerning ourselves with the process and getting better every day. Golf is a difficult game, but committing to the process and competing is how we need to approach it; that's what we need to do in order to play our best golf moving forward."
The 54-hole event will be held at the Old Waverly Golf Club, a par-72, 7,088-yard course. Monday consists of two rounds with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m (CDT) and the final 18 holes will take place on Tuesday. Live scoring will be available on this link: http://bfire.co/-140a3/.
Three teams – UAB (32), Florida (37) and Troy (43) – out of 15 participating in the tournament are among the top 50 in the nation according to the most recent GolfStat rankings. The field also includes Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Kansas, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, Memphis, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Mississippi and UNC-Greensboro.
With a scoring average of 73.54, Michael Garretson leads the team while Daniel Jansen's score of 73.88 stands second, and Tyler Klava is third on the squad with a score average of 74.08. All three golfers placed in the top 10 at the Mobile Sports Authority Intercollegiate and have two top-10 finishes for the year.
Jason Mendel has one top-10 finish and placed in the top 20 overall twice with a score average of 75.82. Matt Sheehan has competed in 10 events, recording a stroke average of 75.36 and posting his low 18-hole score of 68 at the Central Alabama C.C. Willow Point Invitational – where he tied for second overall out of 69 participants. Ally Purdy will be competing as an individual with a scoring average of 76.12.
Garretson led the Jags at the Schenkel Invitational with a score of 74 in the first and second rounds and 3-under par 69 in the third; he tied for 45th overall with a 217 total score. Klava and Jansen tied overall for 75th turning in a 224 total score with Jansen posting a 1-under par in the final round and Klava carding an even-par total over the last 18 holes. Mendel's had a 235 total score and Sheehan finished one shot behind him. After recording scores in the first two rounds of 306 and 303, respectively, the Jags bounced back and posted an even-par 288 in the third round.
"We've been practicing hard and working on areas in which we have struggled in the last month — specifically in scoring, short-game shots, wedge control and distances, and consistent putting speed," stated Hannan.  "We're trying to focus on those areas as we believe they will be important factors going into postseason play."
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
—USA—
