HAMMOND, La. – After a three week layoff, the University of South Alabama men’s golf team travels to Hammond, La. to play in the Carter Plantation Intercollegiate beginning Monday March 12. The tournament will be held at Carter Plantation Golf Club, a par 72, 7,200 yard course. USA also will play March 16-17 at the Border Olympics in Laredo, Texas.
“We are taking the same team for the next two tournaments and the guys have been working very hard to get ready for a lot of golf,” said head coach men’s Ben Hannan. “The next two tournaments are going to give us a good idea of where we stand nationally because of the quality of the fields.”
The Jags will be going against tough competition in Hammond playing against three top-60 teams. Ole Miss is currently ranked 54th, while Mississippi State is 57th. Golfweek Magazine currently has host Southeastern Louisiana 52nd nationally.
The Jags have been paced all season by junior Jonny Caldwell and sophomore Kyle Simmons. Both golfers are in the top five of the Sun Belt Conference stroke averages, Simmons (72.46) is second and Caldwell (72.62) is fourth. Caldwell is currently ranked 81st by Golfweek, while Simmons comes in at 127. Freshman Marc-Etienne Bussieres (21) is the only other golfer in the top-25, carding 74.4 pre round. Sophomores Daniel Burns and Dan Swomley will round out the USA team headed to Hammond and Laredo.
“We have a lot of talent on our golf team and if our golfers play to their ability we should have a good opportunity to compete at Carter,” said Hannan. “This is a great experience for our team to get ready for the end of the year, when we should be playing our best golf.”
Tournament play beings at Carter Plantation with a shotgun start at 8:00 a.m.
