VALDOSTA, Ga. – The No. 34-ranked Valdosta State men's golf team eagerly awaits hosting the 205 First Federal Southeastern Collegiate, Mar. 10-11 at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Valdosta. The 16-team field is scheduled for 36-holes on Monday, Mar. 10 and then 18-holes on Tuesday, Mar. 11 to conclude the 54-hole tournament.
The Blazers have won the tournament three times in program history with wins in 1995, 1998 and 2010. Nova Southeastern won last year, marking its first win since 2009 and second overall. Columbus State has won the tournament five times between 1992 and 1997, while Barry, VSU and West Florida each have won it three times.
This year, No. 3 West Florida headlines the stacked field among ranked teams, while No. 6 Lincoln Memorial, No. 8 Lee, No. 9 Florida Southern and No. 10 Georgia Southwestern all are among the top ten. No. 13 Columbus State, along with No. 18 Rollins and No. 20 Nova Southeastern comprise the top 25. Just outside the top 25 are Saint Leo (30), Barry (31) and Valdosta State (34). The remainder of the field include; Shorter (58), Union (68), Tampa (76), Lynn (96) and Georgia College (107).
Last season the Blazers finished 11
th of 16 teams with a team score of 873 on rounds of 294, 293 and 286. Current Blazer sophomore
Adam Waller finished tied for fifth with a 3-under 213 score on rounds of 73, 72 and 68. Current sophomore Alex Nilehn finished tied for 17
th with an even par 216 score on rounds of 72, 74 and 70. Nova Southeastern took home medalist honors with an 852 score, edging Georgia Southwestern by three strokes. NSU's Michael Hay and Shorter's Blake Henriques had a playoff as both finished a 7-under 209. Henriques won on the first playoff hole with a birdie, while Hay recorded par.
The lineup for the Blazers will be senior
Chase Long at the top spot, followed by senior
Parker Highsmith, Waller, senior
Brandon Cho and Nilehn rounds out the five. Individually, sophomore
Landon Bassford, junior
Ty Folsom and junior
Joshua Burki will be competing.
The tournament is free and open to the public to come and watch. Check back with vstateblazers.com for links to live scoring of the tournament and complete recaps each day.
