INNISBROOK, Fla. – The Valdosta State men's golf team fired rounds of 304 and 300 on Monday in the first two rounds of the 2021 Copperhead Championship on the par 71, 7,209-yard Innisbrook Resort – Copperhead Course.  Saint Leo leads the 17-team field with a 571 score for 36-holes heading into tomorrow's final round.
 
Lander sits second in the team standings with a 574 score, followed by host West Florida (582) and Arkansas Tech and Barry are tied for fourth at 583.  Nova Southeastern sits sixth (585), one stroke ahead of Florida Southern (586) and four strokes in front of Georgia Southwestern (589).  Lincoln Memorial is ninth at 591, followed by Lee at 593 to round out the top ten.  Queens (N.C.) is 11^th at 594, followed by Tampa (599) for 12^th and Columbus State is 13^th at 600.  Flagler sits 14^th with a 601 score, followed by Lynn at 603, one stroke in front of VSU.  Florida Tech is 17^th at 616. 
 
Individually, Saint Leo's Alberto Castagnara leads the field with a 5-under 137 on rounds of 69 and 68.  Lander's Maxime Legros is second at 4-under 138 (69, 69), while Arkansas Tech's Francois Jacobs is third at 3-under 139 (69, 70).  There is a tie for fourth between Lincoln Memorial's Luke Harries and West Florida's Elias Haavisto at 1-under 141.  Barry's A.J. Ewart is sixth at even par 142. 
 
For the Blazers, graduate student Wesley Hanson leads the team with a 146 score on rounds of 73 and 73 as he is tied for 18^th.  Junior Chase Weathers fired a pair of 76s for a 152 score and is tied for 54^th, while sophomore Ryan Pollman sits tied for 63^rd with a pair of 78s and a 154 score.  Senior Gage Smith and junior Davis Smith each are tied for 71^st with a 155 score.  G. Smith fired rounds of 79 and 76, while D. Smith opened with an 80 and dropped five strokes for a 75 in the second round.  Playing as an individual, sophomore Jackson Cross is tied for 60^th with a 153 score on rounds of 78 and 75. 
 
For the two rounds, VSU fired 104 pars for ninth in the field, while it had 18 birdies for 11^th in the field.  VSU was +8 on par 3 scoring for a tie for third in the field, but tied for 16^th in par 4 scoring at +41.  The Blazers were +3 on par 5 scoring for eighth in the field in the two rounds.  Individually, Pollman finished 2-under on par 3s to tie for third, while Hanson was 3-unde on par 5s to tie for seventh.  Hanson also led the way for VSU on par 4 scoring at +4. 
 
The Blazers will tee off at 8:15 a.m. CT Tuesday for the final round and play with the individuals and Florida Tech to conclude the tournament.  Check back with vstateblazers.com Tuesday afternoon for a complete recap and stats of the final round.