MOBILE, Ala. – Yannick Schütz carded a 7-under-par 209 three-day total to record the best finish of his career and lead the University of South Alabama men's golf team at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate, which concluded Tuesday at the Magnolia Grove Crossings Golf Course.

The redshirt senior tied for third after posting a 5-under-par 67 on the first day of play as he would break par in all three rounds of the event.  Mathias Lorentzen and Jordan Plunkett each fired a 4-under-par 68 over the last 18 holes and finished the tournament with 217 totals as the Jaguars placed eighth with a team score of 2-under-par 862.  Dawson Atkinson and Kyle Robinson recorded three-round scores of 220 and 221, respectively, to lead South Alabama's 'B' team in the field.

With a 54-hole 37-under-par total, Illinois won the team title by a 17-stroke margin over Indiana.  The Fighting Illini's Michael Feagles was the medalist after shooting in the 60s in all three rounds en route to a 16-under-par 200 three-day score.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Event (host): Mobile Bay Intercollegiate (South Alabama)
Presented by: Hampton by Hilton Providence Park/Airport and Mobile Sports Authority
Dates: 2/14-16 (Sunday-Tuesday)
Course: Magnolia Grove Crossings Golf Course (par 72, 7,212 yds)
Live scoring: http://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=21477
Final results

TEAM SCORES
1) Illinois 274-276-277—827 (-37); 2) Indiana 283-282-279—844; 3) Kent State 279-282-287—848; 4) Louisville 280-285-285—850; 5) UAB 282-282-288—852; 6) Toledo 290-285-281—856; 7) Kansas State 287-284-290—861; 8) South Alabama 295-285-282—862; 9) Davidson 289-282-300—871; 10) Western Kentucky 295-294-292—881; 11) Lipscomb 296-296-292—884; 12) Illinois State 300-294-295—889; 13) Southern Mississippi 295-303-292—890; 14) South Alabama 'B' 297-309-291—897; 15) Michigan 311-300-296—907.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
1) Michael Feagles, UI 67-67-66—200 (-16); 2) Jerry Ji, UI 71-70-67—208; T3) Yannick Schütz, USA 67-71-71—209; T3) Clay Merchant, IU 71-69-69—209; T3) Matthias Schmid, UofL 68-71-70—209; T3) Tommy Kuhl, UI 70-69-70—209; T7) John Murphy, UofL 70-69-71—210; T7) Barend Botha, UT 75-68-67—210; T9) five individuals with 211.

SOUTH ALABAMA SCORES
T3) Yannick Schütz 67-71-71—209 (-7); T31) Jordan Plunkett 76-73-68—217; T31) Mathias Lorentzen 75-74-68—217; T44) Dawson Atkinson* 73-74-73—220; T47) Kyle Robinson* 70-78-73—221; 60) Eli Mitchell 77-72-75—224; 63) Anders Emil Ejlersen 77-69-80—226; T64) Jacob LeCroy* 75-78-74—227; T72) Will Skipp* 79-79-71—229; T77) Connor Reid* 79-79-76—234.
*denotes competed on South Alabama 'B' team

TEE SHOTS
-A total of 87 individuals from 14 different schools were included in the tournament field.
-Both Illinois' group total and Feagles' three-round score set new tournament records.
-It was the third top-10 result for Schütz this season, who posted the low 54-hole total of his career after finishing among the top 10 in the field in scoring on both par-four and par-five holes.
-Plunkett matched Schütz with a 7-under-par total on the course's par fives, with the junior carding four birdies and an eagle on the final day to match his best round at South.
-Making his season debut, Lorentzen was among the top 10 in the field with 11 birdies — the same total also recorded by Plunkett and Schütz — as well as the top 20 in par-three scoring.
-Ejlersen and Mitchell both shot par or better in the second round of the event, with the former leading the team on the day with a career-low 18-hole score highlighted by five birdies.
-It was Robinson, though, who would lead the team with 13 birdies in the tournament — the fifth-highest total in the field — with five of those coming while shooting a season-low, opening-round 2-under-par 70.
-Skipp carded three birdies on the front side of the course in posting his first round below par the collegiate level on the final day of play.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Ben Hannan
On the team's overall performance in the tournament: "We had two teams participating in this event so all the guys were able to play and I was able to see them in competition, which is obviously good from a coaching standpoint.  We faced some adversity this week with the weather, the guys had to stay in it mentally and after getting off to such a poor start — excluding Yannick's 67 in the first round — I was pleased to see them battle back and play some solid golf the last 36 holes.  I'm happy for Mathias and Jordan closing with 68s on the final day.  Coming back from the Covid break in the fall Mathias has struggled, but he has stayed with it and been working extremely hard over the last few months so it's nice to see his hard work pay off; he's definitely moving in the right direction.  Clearly there are some things to build on this week as a group and some areas where we need to improve, but this is a talented team so we need to just stick to the process and keep trending."
On the play of Yannick Schütz: "I've watched Yannick play a lot of golf over the last four years and have seen him put together some great rounds since he's been here, but this week mentally is the best I've seen him for 54 holes.  He drove it great, which certainly helps on this golf course, but what I like was that he was completely in the moment in every shot and putt he hit; the last two rounds he simply didn't make the putts, but even then he was able to step into the next shot and put his attention there.  Emotionally he was really solid and I think that was key to his consistent performance."
On playing another tournament before the end of the week: "We played the last two rounds 9 under par in some difficult conditions.  The golf course wasn't necessarily playing easy even though there were birdies out there, you still had to hit shots and make putts.  We had some individual low rounds from some of the guys and Yannick had his best finish of the year so far, so we can take some confidence from this event.  We'll pick the lineup that travels based on the results from this week as well as on qualifying rounds, statistics and what we saw, and look forward to continuing the process."

Redshirt senior Yannick Schütz
On his preparation for the event: "As a redshirt senior, I am not taking as many classes as I have in the past which gives me a lot of time to prepare and practice.  I don't think I changed anything in my preparation from previous years coming into this event, I played well in qualifying and I just really like this golf course."
On what he did well over the three days: "My tee shots were really, really good, I think I can count the number of fairways I missed on one hand.  I was in position following pretty much every tee shot — which was key — and I took advantage of the par fives, especially on the first day.  On this golf course, if you drive it well and keep it in play you'll have a lot of really good chances to score."
On keeping the momentum going with another tournament this weekend: "I think I can draw a lot of positives from this, whenever you play well it feels like you're riding a cloud.  I'm not going to change much, I think there are a couple of things I can improve with my putting — that was what held me back the last couple of rounds — but I'm really excited going into the next tournament."

Up next: South tees off again on Friday when the Seminole Intercollegiate gets underway in Tallahassee, Fla.

Photo provided by bradpuckettphotography.com

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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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