STATESBORO, Ga. – Paced by strong first round performances from sophomores Frankie Capan III (North Oaks, Minn./Northwest Christian HS/Alabama) and Jon Hopkins (Bishop's Stortford, England/Mississippi Gulf Coast CC), the FGCU men's golf team is tied for fourth following day one of the 41^st playing of the Schenkel Invitational hosted by Georgia Southern at the Forest Heights Country Club. Capan sits tied for sixth individually, while Hopkins is tied for 19^th.
 
As a team, FGCU shot 285 to tie with the College of Charleston for fourth. The two squads sit just three strokes behind Furman (3^rd, 282). No. 21 N.C. State leads the 13-team field after shooting 272 followed by host No. 40 Georgia Southern (275).
 
The Eagles will begin second round play on Saturday starting at 9:45 AM from hole No. 1 with live scoring available through www.GolfStat.com.
 
"Our team did a good job executing towards the end of the round today," said head coach Andrew Danna. "We'll look to carry that momentum into round two tomorrow."
 
The back nine of the course put the Eagles in a strong position after day one as FGCU carded 11 birdies while going over par just six times. Capan finished the opening round shooting a team-best 69 thanks to four birdies on the back side of the course. He had two on the front side and posted 15 holes at par-or-better overall. The 69 tied his low single-round performance for the season.
 
Hopkins had three birdies on the front side to go into the turn at two under which helped him finish with a one-under 71 following the day.
 
Senior Van Holmgren (Plymouth, Minn./Waysata HS/North Dakota State) finished the day tied for 25^th after shooting 72. He finished 16-of-18 holes at par-or-better and offset two bogeys with a pair of birdies.
 
The backside of the course was also kind to junior Brady Madsen (Raymond, Minn./MacCray HS/Winona State) who tied for 33^rd overall. After going four over on the first nine holes, Madsen tied Capan with a three-under performance on the back which included shooting par-or-better on all nine holes.
 
Freshman Austin Cherichella (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS) tied for 58^th (76) after a tough start to the day. He was plus-four at the turn, but bounced back on the back nine by finishing even on his last nine holes.
 
FGCU, ranked No. 83 in this week's GolfStat.com Rankings, are part of a 13-team field which features three top-50 programs and 11 top-100 squads. N.C. State leads the field at No. 21, followed by No. 38 Kentucky and No. 40 Georgia Southern. Just prior to the start of Friday's action, Army had to drop out of the field as a team.
 
Following the Schenkel Invitational, FGCU will have one final road trip to the Furman Intercollegiate (March 26-28) before hosting the Old Corkscrew Intercollegiate on April 12-13 at the Old Corkscrew Golf Club in Estero to close out the regular-season. The ASUN Championship will be played April 18-20 at the UGA Golf Club in Athens.
 
FGCU Lineup:
T6 - Frankie Capan III – 69
T19 - Jon Hopkins – 71
T25 - Van Holmgren – 72
T33 - Brady Madsen – 73
T58 - Austin Cherichella – 76
 
Schenkel Invitational Field:
1 - #21 NC State – 272
2 - #40 Georgia Southern – 275
3 - #89 Furman – 282
T4 - #78 College of Charleston – 285
T4 - #83 FGCU – 285
6 - #92 Middle Tennessee State – 287
7 - #62 Campbell – 288
T8 - #77 Cincinnati – 292
T8 - #57 East Tennessee State – 292
10 - #126 Memphis – 293
T11 - #94 Rutgers – 298
T11 - #146 Troy – 298
13 - #38 Kentucky – 301
 
 
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ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 85 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 39 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 21, 2020-21) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and 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 (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher 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.
 
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