KENNESAW, Ga. – Paced by a 2-under 70 from Jake Sherwin, the FGCU men's golf team concluded its final round at Kennesaw State's Pinetree Intercollegiate with a season-best 4th-place finish after a closing 300 team score on Tuesday at Pinetree Country Club.
 
FGCU finished with a three-round total of 891, seven shots better than the nation's 18th-ranked team, East Carolina (898). Fellow Atlantic Sun Conference member Kennesaw State won the title going away as the Owls (845) finished with a 30-shot victory over Liberty (875). The third A-Sun member in the field, Lipscomb, made a charge up the leadboard to finish in third place with an 881 total, giving the A-Sun three of the top-4 finishes in the 11-team field.
 
Sherwin's (Fort Myers, Fla./Evangelical Christian HS) round started inauspiciously with a bogey on the 1st, but he made up for that shot and another on the 332-yard, par-4 5th as his drive was about 30 feet from the pin and he then chipped in for eagle, FGCU's second of the tournament. With his card at -1, Sherwin bogeyed 6 but then rolled in birdies on 7 and 9 to go out in 34 (-2).
 
His back 9 began with four pars and two bogeys through the first six holes, but the junior found his game again over the final three holes, making birdie on 16 and 18 before signing for his second-best round of the year. With an improvement each round, starting with a 78 in Monday's first round and continuing with a 73 in the second round later in the day, Sherwin finished 14th overall with a three-round 221 (+5).
 
"The team is starting to move in the right direction, and beating the 18th-ranked team in the nation in East Carolina is a great sign," said coach Eric Booker, who is guiding the Eagles for just the second tournament this year. "We need to continue improving our consistency. We are now looking forward to next week as we compete against some of the best teams in the country in our home tournament at Old Corkscrew."
 
The Eagles entered the final round in third place and played alongside two of the top-35 teams in the nation in ECU and No. 34 Kennesaw State. In addition to Sherwin, Jordan Miller (Bradenton, Fla./Bradenton Christian School) and Austin Schultz (Lakeland, Fla./Florida Southern College/Lee Virtual Instructional Program) also finished inside the top-20 with 19th-place showings.
 
Miller and Schultz both finished with three-round totals of 224 (+8), but went about it in very different fashions. Miller led FGCU in both of Monday's rounds and was in a tie for fifth entering Tuesday, but struggled to a final-round 81. Meanwhile, Schultz remained relatively steady throughout the invite, opening with a 76 on Monday, posting a 74 in the afternoon round and then finishing with another 74 Tuesday.
 
Senior Blake Biggs (Peoria, Ill./Eastern Florida State College/Peoria Notre Dame HS) rebounded from a disappointing second round to record a 75 in the final round and conclude the tournament with a three-round 231 and in a tie for 32nd overall. Casper Howells (London, England/Bradfield College) rounded out the FGCU scoring for the day with a final-round 89 after entering action in tie for 21st.
 
This is the third-straight year that the Eagles have competed in the Pinetree Intercollegiate, with the fourth-place finish being their best over that time. The Green and Blue have finished in the top-10 all three years, while Kennesaw State has now taken the crown all three years.
 
Pinetree Country Club was built in 1962 and underwent a renovation in 2007 by Bill Bergin. Pinetree is one of the finest private courses in Georgia as the layout weaves through the Georgia pines and around natural brooks and creeks while stretching to a length of 7,108 yards. Pinetree has been host to multiple Georgia State Amateur Championships and hosted the 2014 Georgia Open. Legends such as Arnold Palmer, Bobby Jones, Sam Snead and Larry Nelson have called Pinetree home.
 
Six of the 11 competing schools finished in the top-5 of their last tournaments, while Cincinnati, ECU and Lipscomb took home first place in their respective invites. FGCU finished the Pinetree Intercollegiate ahead of five teams ranked ahead of it in the initial Golfweek Rankings announced last week.
 
FGCU will wrap up its fall season by hosting the Homewood/Hilton Garden Airport & FGCU Classic at Old Corkscrew Golf Club in Estero, Fla. The 54-hole tournament will take place next Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 27-28, with 36 holes being contested Monday and the final 18 taking place on Tuesday.
 
More information will be announced later this week, but the tournament field includes in-state foes Florida State and Florida, with the Seminoles currently ranked as the No. 2 team in the nation in the first Golfstat Rankings of the 2014-15 season released on Oct. 15.

FGCU COMPETITORS
14) Jake Sherwin: 78-73-70/221
T19) Austin Schultz: 76-74-74/224
T19) Jordan Miller: 74-69-81/224
T32) Blake Biggs: 75-81-75/231
T52) Casper Howells: 78-72-89/239
 
COMPLETE FIELD (Golfstat Rankings – Oct. 15)
1) #34 Kennesaw State: 276-281-288/845
2) #187 Liberty: 294-299-282/875
3) #151 Lipscomb: 298-299-284/881
4) #207 FGCU: 303-288-300/891
5) #262 Jacksonville State: 300-295-300/895
6) #18 East Carolina: 295-291-312/898
7) #89 Miami (Ohio): 297-303-300/900
8) #163 Akron: 313-293-297/903
9) #114 Cincinnati: 295-301-311/907
10) #191 Western Carolina: 314-299-303/916
11) #219 Ohio: 312-313-302/927
 
For schedule updates, news and information, visit FGCUAthletics.com. For the latest news and behind-the-scenes access to information, photos and videos, follow @FGCU_MGolf on Twitter.

FGCU is led by coach Eric Booker, a member of the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour (formerly the Nationwide Series) for portions of 17 years from 1990-2007. Booker finished in the top-5 three times in tournaments on the PGA Tour and also played in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. He played in 62 career events on the PGA Tour, with his best finish being a tie for 3rd at the 1999 Honda Classic.
 
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/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 www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.