VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Valdosta State men's golf team will compete in the 2024 Gulf South Conference Championship at a familiar golf course.  The 2024 championships will be played at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta.  Both tournaments get underway Monday morning at 8:30 a.m.  The teams will play 18 holes each day for three days for the 54-hole championship.  The championship is free and open to the public. 
 
This marks the first time the GSC Golf Championships will be held at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club.  The men's field will play a 7,377-yard course, while the women's field will play at 5,962 yards and both have a par of 72.  
 
The women's field consists of nine teams, while the men's field has ten teams.  On the men's side, Lee (No. 9/10), Shorter (No. 23/22) and West Florida (No. 15/14) all are inside the top 25 of both the Bushnell/Golf Week Coaches Poll and the Clippd national rankings.  Union is among others receiving votes from the coaches poll and No. 34 in Clippd.  
 
VSU hosted the First Federal Southeastern Collegiate in March with the Blazers, Shorter, Lee, West Florida, Union and West Georgia all competing in it.  Shorter finished fourth, followed by Lee at fifth, while Union tied for seventh and West Florida was ninth.  VSU finished 11^th and West Georgia was 16^th.   
 
With VSU not sponsoring women's golf as an intercollegiate sport, none of the women's teams have played at Kinderlou this season.  The women's field features four teams nationally ranked.  Lee is the only program among both top 25 polls in the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Clippd, checking in at No. 15 in both.  Montevallo (No. 30), West Florida (No. 39) and West Georgia (No. 45) all were in the Clippd top 50. 
 
Click here for the GSC Championship Central page for all things men's and women's golf for the championship.  
 
For the championship, the Blazer lineup features junior Chase Long at the top spot, followed by junior Brandon Cho, sophomore Ty Folsom, along with freshmen Alexander Nilehn and Adam Waller round out the lineup, respectively.  Junior Zach Ashley will be the alternate for the Blazers.  
 
For the Southeastern Collegiate, Waller finished tied for fifth with a 3-under 213 score, while Nilehn tied for 17^th at even par 216.  Cho finished tied for 45^th (221) and Long tied for 77^th (229) as VSU finished 11^th with an 873 score (294 – 293- 286).   Folsom played as an individual finishing tied for 13^th with a 1-under 215 score (68-72-75). 
 
Last time out for the Blazers, they finished tied for 13^th at the Argonaut Invitational with Shorter each with an 888 score.  West Florida finished fourth in the tournament and Lee was 11^th among GSC schools.  Long paced the team finishing tied for 17^th on an even par 216 (71-72-73).  
 
For the GSC Championship, the Blazers have five league titles with the last one being in 2000 in Rome, Ga.  The other four are 1989, 1994, 1996 and 1999.  West Florida won the 2023 championship in Mobile, Ala., where the field has played the league championship since 2019.  Valdosta is the second location in Georgia where the championship has been contested as it was in Pine Mountain, Ga., in 2017 and 2018.  The five GSC titles are the third-most in league history behind West Florida (23) and Troy (13).  West Florida has won nine of the last ten titles (Lee, 2022). 
 
The Blazers finished ninth last season with a 901 score, while they finished third in 2018, second in 2019, fourth in 2021 and sixth in 2022.  There was no 2020 championship due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.  The second place finish in 2019 marked the best finish for the Blazers since the team tied for second in 2010 with West Florida in Hot Springs, Ark. 
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com for complete recaps each day of the championship.