LAKE MARY, Fla. – The FGCU men's golf team used a season-best 284 final round to move up two spots on the leadberboard for the second-straight round and finish Stetson's Frontier Secure Intercollegiate at Heathrow Country Club on Tuesday in sole possession of 3rd place.
 
The Eagles were in 7th place following the 1st round, moved into a tie for 5th following the 2nd round and capped their spring-opening tournament with their 2nd-best finish of the year. Casper Howells posted his first top-10 finish of the year with a tie for 10th as he – like the Eagles – improved his score each round, going from a 73 in round 1 to a 72 in round 2 and finally to an even-par 71 on Tuesday for a 216 (+3) total.
 
Howells (London, England/Bradford College) alternated bogey-birdie the first five holes, but then settled down and made nothing but pars except for three birdies and a double bogey the rest of the way en route to a third round of 70 or better this year.
 
In the final round it was Keaton Jones and James Leadbetter posting FGCU's low rounds of the tournament with a pair of 1-under 70s – two better than Leadbetter's previous season best. As a team, the 284 total is the 3rd-best for the Eagles under third-year head coach Eric Booker, bested only by a 283 in the spring of 2015 and a 281 in the spring of 2016.
 
FGCU finished two shots clear of 4th-place Morehead State. Western Carolina won the 11-team tournament with an 8-under 844 total, seven shots clear of Jacksonville State (-1, 851).
 
"The guys played much better today, so it's great to see us heading in the right direction starting off the spring," commented Booker. "Finishing off rounds has been a problem for us, so it was nice to see us do that today. I'm proud of the guys for displaying the mental toughness to get the job done.
 
"But there's always room for improvement," Booker continued. "We still need to keep our focus and emotions of the game under control to legitimize our potential."
 
In conjunction with the Eagles lowering their team score each round (296-293-284), Jones (Kitchener, Ontario/St. Mary's HS) did the same, decreasing his score by four strokes each round on his way to the final-round 70. That 1-under performance moved him up the leaderboard 14 spots – tied for the largest jump in the 60-player field – as he finished tied for 26th with a 222 total. Jones made the turn at even par before getting his scorecard all the way to 3 under heading to 14.
 
That was four spots behind Andrew Potter (Naples, Fla./Community School of Naples), who shot a final-round 74 and concluded a consistent tournament with three rounds of either 73 or 74 on his way to a tie for 22nd finish and a 221 total. Aside from a three-hole stretch from 12-14 in which he played 5 over, Potter worked his way around the 6,846-yard layout in 2 under.
 
Playing in his first tournament as part of the team score, freshman Doug Smith (Windermere, Fla./Olympia HS) finished just one shot behind Potter following a final-round 73. Like Howells, Smith lowered his score each round (76-74-73) on his way to a 223 total and a tie for 30th. Smith had a pretty clean scorecard with three birdies and a bogey, but a pair of double bogeys on 12 and 14 – which played as two of the three hardest holes on the course Tuesday – hurt him coming in. The 160-yard par-3 12th and 436-yard par-4 14th averaged 3.65 and 4.69 for the week, respectively, with the two holes accounting for 63 double bogeys or worse over the three rounds.
 
Leadbetter (Bradenton, Fla./Arkansas/IMG Academy) bounced back from an 83 in the 2nd round with his season-low 70 in the final round. After going out in 2-over 37, Leadbetter – who shot an opening-round 73 – birdied the par-5 11th, par-4 13th and par-5 16th coming in to shoot a 3-under 33.
 
The Eagles will now turn their focus to the Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate hosted by Loyola (Md.) next Monday and Tuesday, Mar. 6-7.
 
FGCU Lineup
T10) Casper Howells: 73-72-71: 216 (+3)
T22) Andrew Potter: 74-73-74: 221 (+8)
T26) Keaton Jones: 78-74-70: 222 (+9)
T30) Doug Smith: 76-74-73: 223 (+10)
T38) James Leadbetter: 73-83-70: 226 (+13)

Competing Teams (Golfstat Ranking)
1) 199 Western Carolina: 290-275-279: 844 (-8)
2) 67 Jacksonville State: 287-281-283: 851 (-1)
3) 193 FGCU: 296-293-284: 873 (+21)
4) 236 Morehead State: 299-291-285: 875 (+23)
T5) 234 FAU: 302-290-286: 878 (+26)
T5) N/A Keiser: 294-285-299: 878 (+26)
7) 160 Stetson: 292-297-297: 886 (+34)
8) 226 Appalachian State: 292-295-301: 888 (+36)
9) 162 Ohio: 293-297-301: 891 (+39)
10) N/A Embry-Riddle: 306-295-298: 899 (+47)
11) N/A Stetson (B): 308-299-301: 908 (+56)
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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COACH BOOKER
FGCU is led by 3rd-year 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.
 
HELP THE CAUSE
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.