BRASELTON, Ga. – The FGCU men's golf team completed the rain-altered ASUN Championship Tuesday with a final-round 291 total, finishing in 5th place overall at The Legends Course at Chateau Elan.
 
Grant Renegar paced the Eagles with a closing 2-under 68 to finish in a team-best tie for 7th overall with a two-round 143 total (+1).
 
North Florida - #26 in the latest Golfstat rankings – won the title with a 564 two-round total, closing out the event five shots ahead of 2nd-place and #69 Lipscomb (569).
 
Rain washed out the entire 2nd round of action Monday, prompting officials to shorten the tournament from 54 to 36 holes. Mother Nature impacted the final round as well, as originally-scheduled tee times for both the men and women (the course hosted both championships) were pushed back several hours and into a shotgun format with an early-afternoon start.
 
Because of the significant rain, competitors played lift, clean and place out of the fairway, with one club of relief available, and there were adjustments made to the yardages and pars of a couple holes.
 
Typically a par-5, 566-yard hole, the 10th was shortened to 148 yards and played as a par 3. The par-4 18th also was shortened from 432 to 395 yards. The changes turn the usual par-72, 7,032-yard layout into a par-70, 6,577-yard track.
 
Andrew Potter (Naples, Fla./Community School of Naples) joined Renegar by finishing in the top 15 overall as the junior followed up a 1st-round 73 with a final-round 75 to tie for 14th overall (148, +6).
 
Michael Keymont bounced back from an 80 on Sunday with a 71 on Tuesday – his 2nd-best round in two years with the Eagles – to move up eight spots on the leaderboard, representing the 2nd-largest jump in the field of 35. Keymont (Orlando, Fla./Eastern Florida State College/Timber Creek) tied for 23rd overall with a 151 (+9) total.
 
Rounding out the FGCU five-man lineup scoring was Cole Castro – an ASUN All-Freshman Team selection – with a 159 total (82-77) and Doug Smith (Windermere, Fla./Olympia HS) (79-84: 163). Castro (Homestead, Fla./South Dade HS) did have a highlight by holing out on the par-4, 344-yard 16th for eagle.
 
"We had a much better closing round than we did to open the championship on Sunday," commented FGCU head coach Eric Booker. "Grant played really solid to finish in the top 10, and we had a few other guys bounce back nicely as well, but overall we just had too many mistakes that we can't afford to make if we want to compete at this level to win a conference championship."
 
Renegar (McComb, Miss./Meridian CC/Parklane Academy) put together a really clean card in the final round, opening with a birdie on the adjusted par-3 10th, and adding two others against only one bogey to complete what was tied for the 3rd-best round of the day and matched for his personal best this year.
 
Keymont, meanwhile, started on the par-4 8th and recorded four birdies and five bogeys on his way to the 71. The senior tied for the 2nd-best par-3 scoring in the field for the tournament at -1, a total which was also equaled by Renegar.
 
The 5th-place finish for the Green and Blue marked the team's fourth-straight year concluding the conference championship in that position.
 
FGCU Lineup Scores
T-7) Grant Renegar: 75-68: 143 (+1)
T-14) Andrew Potter: 73-75: 148 (+6)
T-23) Michael Keymont: 80-71: 151 (+9)
31) Cole Castro: 82-77: 159 (+17)
T-34) Doug Smith: 79-84: 163 (+21)
 
Complete Field (Golfstat Rankings Designated By #)
1) #26 North Florida: 285-279: 564 (-4)
2) #69 Lipscomb: 286-283: 569 (+1)
3) #60 Jacksonville: 302-284: 586 (+18)
4) #51 Kennesaw State: 296-292: 588 (+20)
5) #174 FGCU: 307-291: 598 (+30)
6) #245 Stetson: 313-290: 603 (+35)
7) #162 USC Upstate: 303-305: 608 (+40)
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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COACH BOOKER
FGCU is led by 4th-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. He has led the Eagles to a pair of wins in limited-field events the last two years, in addition to a tie for 1st at Stetson's Legacy Intercollegiate in February of 2018. 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.