FORT MYERS, Fla. -- FGCU men's golf is primed to compete in six tournaments this spring, with sights on returning to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.

Four of the Green & Blue's six regular season events will be played in the state of Florida. FGCU also enters the spring campaign No. 60 overall in the Golfstat Rankings and No. 68 in Golfweek's collegiate Rankings.

"We are excited and very thankful for the opportunity to compete this spring," said FGCU head men's golf coach Andrew Danna. "Our goal is simple; be thankful for each opportunity we have to compete and do the best we can. We have a competitive schedule in place this semester which will be a great test for our team each week."

The Eagles tee off first at the Sea Best Invitational on Jan. 30-31, hosted by fellow ASUN member Jacksonville from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

FGCU will remain in Duval County for the following week to then compete in The Hayt on Feb. 5-6. The Hayt is hosted by ASUN constituent North Florida.

The Green & Blue hit the links twice in February and twice in March. The second February tournament is the VyStar Credit Union Gators Invitational, hosted by Florida in Gainesville on Feb. 11-12.

The Eagles will take part in the Seminole Intercollegiate from Tallahassee, Fla., on March 13-14.

FGCU will finally leave the friendly confines of the Sunshine State toward the end of March, as the Eagles hit the road for Statesboro, Ga., for The Schenkel Invitational, hosted by Georgia Southern. The Schenkel Invitational is the only three-day event (March 17-18) of the spring season for the Eagles.

In April, FGCU will soar into Bryan-College Station, Texas, for The Aggie Invitational on March 10-11.

The ASUN Men's Championship is set for April 23-25 at the RTJ Golf Trail at Magnolia Grove in Mobile, Ala. Last season, FGCU finished second and earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, the first program in FGCU Athletics history to accomplish the feat.

The Eagles closed the 2022 fall season with its best showing by placing second of 18 competing programs, just three strokes shy of No. 23 and tournament winner Mississippi State.

FGCU posted a 289.00 average score over the course of four events and 12 rounds of play throughout the fall. Both fifth-year senior Jon Hopkins (Bishop's Stortford, England Hockerill Anglo-European College Mississippi Gulf Coast CC) and senior Pierre Viallaneix (Apopka, Fla. Winter Park HS Western Carolina) tallied a top five effort. In fact, Viallaneix was named the ASUN Men's Golfer of the Week for his performance at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate which included tying a career-low round of 66 en route to a T4 finish on the player leaderboard.

Sophomore Lucas Fallotico (Cernusco sul Naviglo, Italy Istituto Comprensivo Aldo Moro Seregno) and freshman Sam Baker (Cloquet, Minn Cloquet HS) notched a top 10 finish as well, both recording a season best finish of T8. Baker paces all Eagles with a 72.33 round average.

Baker, Fallotico and Viallaniex tie for the team lead with five par-or-better rounds.

For complete coverage of FGCU men's golf, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram (@FGCU_MGolf), Facebook (@FGCUAthletics), and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU men's golf and all 15 sport programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.

HEAD COACH ANDREW DANNA
Danna is in his fourth year at the helm of the men's golf program with the Eagles earning FGCU's first-ever NCAA Tournament at-large berth in department history during the 2022 season. He has led the Eagles to second-place finishes at the 2021 and 2022 ASUN Championships and was named the program's first-ever ASUN Coach of the Year (2021) and repeated in 2022. One of the best turnarounds in NCAA history saw the Green and Blue, led by Van Holmgren who became the first player to earn PING All-Region honors, jump from No. 257 in the final 2019-20 GolfStat.com rankings to a then program-best 65 to close out 2020-21. The Eagles set a new program-best during the 2022 season at No. 47 in the GolfStat.com rankings. Holmgren won the ASUN Championship individual title to qualify for the NCAA Regionals. Before taking over in Fort Myers, he served the 2018-19 season as the assistant at LSU. Prior to that he was the ultra-successful head coach for six years at Lynn University where he led them to the 2018 NCAA Division II national championship and was, subsequently, chosen the David Williams National Coach of the Year. He also led the Fighting Knights to three national runner-up placements, with a third and eighth place finish in his other two seasons.

E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!

#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.

ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 94 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22 and No. 25 in 2022-23) beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 - Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.

---FGCUATHLETICS.COM---