SEASIDE, Calif. – Junior Jake Sherwin fired a career-best 5-under 67 in his second round of the day Monday at the Saint Mary's Invitational, and coupled with his even-par 72 in the opening round is tied for second overall. Aided by Sherwin's performance, FGCU sits in 12th place in the 16-team field heading into Tuesday's final round.
 
After shooting an opening-round 302 at Bayonet Golf Course, the Eagles posted a team score of 294 in the second round at the accompanying Black Horse Golf Course for a 596 total in their season-opening invitational. Host Saint Mary's College leads the tournament at -6 (570) – one of only two teams below par. FGCU is 10 shots outside of 8th place, 14 behind 4th place and eight shots clear of 13th-place Boise State.
 
Sherwin began his round at Black Horse on the par-4 16th and missed a 2-footer for birdie before making pars on his opening two holes and then converting a birdie on the monstrous 605-yard 18th. Sherwin – who is just two shot off the overall lead – made the turn to the front and promptly two-putt birdied the par-5 1st after going driver/4-iron to about 40 feet to move to 2-under before quickly sliding back with a bogey after missing a 5-footer on the par-3 2nd.
 
Consecutive birdies on holes 3 and 4 – he nearly holed a 70-yard pitch for eagle on 3 – moved Sherwin's score to -3, but he gave one back on the 198-yard par-3 5th with a three putt from roughly 20 feet. After a par, his only one on the front 9, on hole 6 despite being five yards short of the green on his drive, Sherwin rolled in a 30-foot downhill birdie putt on 7 and went on to birdie 8 and 9 to go out in 32. His previous best round was 69 – done twice during his freshman season in 2012-13.
 
"It really started by making birdie on 15, my final hole, at Bayonet," Sherwin said of the momentum he had heading into the second round. "I played well, but to be completely honest it could have been a 62 or a 63. I missed about five makeable putts, and I shouldn't be missing those. But I did make some really nice lag putts coming in as I had probably three or four 40-foot putts over the final several holes and two-putted each.
 
"We'll get together as a group tonight and talk about where we want to set our sights on in terms of moving up the leaderboard tomorrow," Sherwin said of Tuesday's final round at Bayonet. "Ten shots is nothing in team golf; it's essentially making up one shot per nine holes per guy. Our focus tomorrow will be to try and get up to around third or fourth place, and we'll be firing for pins and being a little more aggressive."
 
Sophomore Jordan Miller shot an opening-round 74 and followed it up with another 74 in the second round to finish as the next-lowest Eagle performer at +3 and in a tie for 33rd overall.
 
Senior Blake Biggs shot rounds of 76-76 (+8/152) and is tied for 49th. Sophomores Casper Howells and Conrad Hahne both couldn't get going as Howells opened with rounds of 80-77 (+13/157), while Hahne went 82-78 (+16/160).
 
This is the fifth straight year FGCU is competing at the Saint Mary's Invitational, coming off a program-best tie for 8th at last year's event. The field includes six of the top-100 teams in the nation (based off the most recent Golfstat rankings from the conclusion of the 2013-14 season), with no school ranked worse than No. 185. Five different conferences are represented: the Big 12, Big West, Mountain West, West Coast and Atlantic Sun, with FGCU the only school hailing from east of the Mississippi River.
 
Both courses are steeped in tradition and have played host to some of the PGA Tour's greats, including Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. Designed in 1954, the par-72 Bayonet course is 7,104 yards with oak and cypress-lined fairways, a slope of 141 and a rating of 74.8.
 
Designed 10 years later in 1964, the Black Horse is also a par-72 layout which recently underwent renovations to transform it into a longer, more challenging course. With rolling fairways and panoramic views of the Monterey Bay, Black Horse now measures 7,024 yards, with a slope of 141 and a rating of 73.7.
 
Final-round action is set to commence Tuesday at 8 a.m. local time (11 Eastern) with a shotgun start. Live scoring is available via BirdieFire by following the link accompanying this release.
 
FGCU COMPETITORS
T2) Jake Sherwin (72-67: 139)
T33) Jordan Miller (74-74: 148)
T49) Blake Biggs (76-76: 152)
T80) Casper Howells (80-77: 157)
87) Conrad Hahne (82-78: 160)
 
COMPLETE FIELD (Standings Based Off Final 2013-14 Golfstat Rankings)
1) #84 Saint Mary's (281-289: 570)
2) #71 San Diego (293-282: 575)
3) #87 San Francisco (297-282: 579)
4) #165 Fresno State (299-283: 582)
    #151 Pacific (298-284: 582)
6) #96 Santa Clara (295-289: 584)
7) #127 Kansas State (290-295: 585)
8) #120 Long Beach State (296-290: 586)
9) #115 Loyola Marymount (289-301: 590)
10) #114 Cal Poly (302-291: 593)
11) #64 UC Davis (304-290: 594)
12) #119 FGCU (302-294: 596)
13) #185 Boise State (301-303: 604)
14) #175 CSU Northridge (311-300: 611)
15) #167 UC Riverside (303-309: 612)
16) #66 Cal State Fullerton (310-305: 615)
 
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