ESTERO, Fla. – Paced by four players in the top 10 led by senior
Van Holmgren (Plymouth, Minn./Waysata HS/North Dakota State) who ranks fifth, the FGCU men's golf team stands in first place after the first two rounds of the Old Corkscrew Intercollegiate on Monday at the Old Corkscrew Golf Club. In addition to Holmgren, sophomores
Jon Hopkins (Bishop's Stortford, England/Mississippi Gulf Coast CC) and
Frankie Capan III (North Oaks, Minn./Northwest Christian HS/Alabama) are tied for sixth, while freshman
Austin Cherichella (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS) stands tied for ninth.
The Eagles lead the 12-team field with a 569 (286-283) heading into Tuesday's final 18 holes. Jacksonville is 10 strokes behind after a 293 second round dropped the Dolphins 10 strokes behind FGCU. Jacksonville State is third at 580 after carding 290 in both rounds.
"I'm proud of how the team competed today in both rounds," said head coach
Andrew Danna. "We're really appreciative of the staff at Old Corkscrew having the course in great shape today. Tomorrow will be a great opportunity for us and we're looking forward to another chance at playing our best golf."
High Point's Brandon Einstein is the individual leader with a 36-hole score of 139. Holmgren is four strokes behind with a one-under 143. Hopkins and Capan are tied after carding 144, while Cherichella has a two-round score of 145.
Holmgren picked up steam in the first round with an eagle on No. 8 which led to eight straight pars before birdies on No. 17 and No. 18 dropped him to two under. He closed the round with a bogey for a one-under 71 to start the day. In the afternoon round, he added three more birdies and closed the day going par-or-better on eight straight holes.
Hopkins had the early individual lead as he used an eagle on No. 4 to spark a four-under start through eight holes. A double bogey on No. 9 and a triple bogey on No. 10 caused him to struggle on the back nine to finish the first round at a seven-over 79. In the second round, however, he caught fire with a string of five straight birdies before adding two more for a 65 which pulled him 52 spots up the leader board. On the back nine in particular, Hopkins had birdies on six of the nine holes.
The 65 for the round gave Hopkins the lowest single round for FGCU since Edward Figueroa shot 64 in the third round of the Cobra PUMA Invitational in 2012-13. The 65 is tied for the third lowest round in program history and the first 65 shot since Daniel Mazziotta did so at the Rio Pinar Invitational in 2010-11.
Capan used a pair of 72s on the day to finish even, while Cherichella shot 71 in the morning session and 74 in the afternoon. Cherichella's morning round was highlighted by an eagle on No. 8 as one of five carded by FGCU players on the day.
Junior
Brady Madsen (Raymond, Minn./MacCray HS/Winona State) tied for 19
th overall with a 72 in the morning and a 76 in the afternoon.
Also picking up eagles for the Green and Blue on Monday were juniors
Chase Bigham (Naples, Fla./Seacrest Country Day School) in the second round and
Henry Tschopp (Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland/Western Texas College/Dodge City CC) in the second round.
Tuesday will begin at 8:0 AM off holes No. 1 and No. 10 with teams set by their position after Monday's rounds. The event is open to the public with spectators adhering to CDC guidelines including social distancing and face masks. There will be no spectator carts available for the tournament.
The 12-team tournament field will be highlighted by the No. 69 Eagles with No. 77 Jacksonville the next highest ranked program.
FGCU 'A' Lineup:
5 - Van Holmgren – 71-72 – 143
T6 - Jon Hopkins – 79-65 – 144
T6 - Frankie Capan III – 72-72 – 144
T9 - Austin Cherichella – 71-74 – 145
T19 - Brady Madsen – 72-76 – 148
FGCU 'B' Lineup:
T31 - Thomas Salanito – 76-74 – 150
T38 - Henry Tschopp – 73-79 – 152
T43 - J.T. Barker – 75-78 – 153
T47 - Michael O'Brien – 76-78 – 154
T58 - Tyler Carlson – 76-83 – 159
FGCU Individuals:
T53 - Chase Bigham – 79-77 – 156
- - Mark Iwinski, Jr. – 87-93 -- 180
Old Corkscrew Intercollegiate Field:
1 - #69 FGCU (A) – 286-283 – 569
2 - #77 Jacksonville – 286-293 – 579
3 - #115 Jacksonville State – 290-290 – 580
4 - #137 High Point – 290-296 – 586
5 - #149 Lipscomb – 293-298 – 591
6 - #157 Old Dominion – 298-298 – 596
7 - #102 VCU – 300-299 – 599
8 - #161 Florida A&M – 298-302 – 600
9 - #182 Stetson – 300-301 – 601
10 - #152 Troy – 298-305 – 603
11 - FGCU (B) – 300-309 – 609
12 - #257 Bellarmine – 318-306 – 624
For complete coverage of FGCU men's golf, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram (@FGCU_MGolf), Facebook (@FGCUAthletics), and online at
www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU men's golf and all 15 sport programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting
www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
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