WEST POINT, Miss. – The University of South Alabama men's golf duo of Yannick Schütz and Jordan Plunkett recorded 54-hole totals below par to lead the Jaguars at Mississippi State's Old Waverly Collegiate Championship, the final event of the regular season.

The former fired a 1-under-par 70 to pace South in the final round on Tuesday, while the latter overcame an early triple bogey to shoot a 74 as both posted a 2-under-par 214 total for the event to tie for 17th in the individual standings.

Marcus Byrd of Middle Tennessee was the individual medalist, recording a 13-under-par 203 two-day score following a 67 over the final 18 holes.  ULM won the team title with an 18-under-par 846 54-hole total, holding off Ole Miss by one shot while No. 4 Vanderbilt finished three strokes behind the Warhawks.  The Jags had an 872 group score for the event to place ninth out of the 15 schools competing.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Event (host): Old Waverly Collegiate Championship (Mississippi State)
Date: 4/16
Course: Old Waverly Golf Club (par 72, 7,000 yds)
Live scoring: http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=16201

TEAM SCORES
1) ULM 278-276-292—846 (-18); 2) Ole Miss 284-278-285—847; 3) Vanderbilt 283-278-288—849; 4) Little Rock 280-283-287—850; 5) Mississippi State 284-284-283—851; 6) Middle Tennessee 283-283-289—855; 7) Chattanooga 287-284-291—862; 8) Memphis 288-290-289—867; 9) South Alabama 293-282-297—872; 10) Louisiana 290-297-287—874; 11) Louisiana Tech 301-287-291—879; 12) Lipscomb 297-297-293—887; 13) Bradley 302-303-292—897; 14) South Dakota 295-294-310—899; 15) Southern Mississippi 304-297-300—901.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
1) Marcus Byrd, MT 70-66-67—203 (-13); 2) Jackson Suber, OM 70-71-65—206; T3) Garrett Johnson, MSU 69-69-69—207; T3) Will Gordon, VU 72-69-66—207; T5) Justin Warren, LR 68-69-72—209; T5) Beau Briggs, OM 72-66-71—209; T7) Logan Pate, LR 70-71-69—210; T7) Otto Van Buynder, ULM 67-71-72—210; 9) Patrick Martin, VU 67-70-74—211; T10) three individuals with 212.

SOUTH ALABAMA SCORES
T17) Yannick Schütz 73-70-71—214 (-2); T17) Jordan Plunkett 70-70-74—214; T54) Peter Staalbo 73-76-75—224; T59) Kyle Robinson 77-70-78—225; T64) Rasmus Karlsson 77-72-77—226.

TEE SHOTS
-A total of 84 players from 15 different schools competed in the event this week.
-It marked the sixth time over the last seven years that the Jaguars have placed among the top 10 in the team standings of the tournament.
-This is the second straight spring that Schütz has posted a top-20 individual finish at the event, and with the performance he recorded a top-20 result at five of eight tournaments during the 2018-19 regular season.
-Schütz has now shot par or better in 12 of 22 rounds this season.
-It was the second straight occasion — and third time at four stroke-play events this spring — that the junior has accomplished the feat twice at a tournament.
-It marked the first time Plunkett — who was second in the field with a 2 under total on par threes — has recorded a top-20 result at the collegiate level.
-Kyle Robinson led the team after going 5 under par on par fives, with Schütz and Rasmus Karlsson posting 3 under totals on those holes for the week.
-The Jags were fourth in the field in scoring on par-three holes while ranking fifth overall with 173 total pars as a group, with Peter Staalbo tying for second individually after recording a team-leading 40 over 54 holes.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Ben Hannan
On the final round of the tournament: "The conditions were more difficult, we had some big numbers early in the round and couldn't quite recover.  In a field of this level you can't have two guys play poorly on the same day, and unfortunately we had to count too many big numbers this week."
On the play of Yannick Schütz and Jordan Plunkett at the event: "Yannick had a nice event.  His ball striking was OK for him, but mentally he managed his emotions well and he competed to be able to grind out some solid scores.  So did Jordan, who had a triple on the second hole but held it together and continued to compete to be able to play the rest of the day at 1 under par."
On the start of the conference tournament on Sunday: "Right now everything you've done prior to this weekend doesn't really matter, you need to put your efforts and your energy into this coming week.  It's at a golf course that we've played before, we've competed well there and for the most part know the course.  For us, it's about getting into the right frame of mind to allow our talent level to compete.  We'll fine tune a few things and mentally prepare to play the conference championship."

Up next: Play at the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Championship will tee off on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. (CDT) at the Sandestin Golf Resort Raven Course.

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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