FORT MYERS, Fla. – With four top-five finishes in six tournaments this year including a runner-up showing at the Furman Intercollegiate, the FGCU men's golf team has moved up to No. 69 in the GolfStat.com weekly rankings. This marks the best-ever ranking for the Eagles in the Division I era and has the program on the brink of a possible at-large berth for the NCAA Tournament.
 
The ranking is especially impressive considering FGCU has jumped up 188 spots from last season's ranking of 257. That moved the Eagles up to being the third-highest ranked ASUN program behind No. 14 Liberty and No. 20 North Florida – last season FGCU finished the year last among ASUN teams in the GolfStat.com rankings.
 
"I'm proud of the gains we've made as a program and that is a testament to the team," said head coach Andrew Danna. "We haven't reached our goals yet, but this is an encouraging sign that the process we are putting in place is working."
 
FGCU's second-place effort at the Furman Intercollegiate at the end of March punctuated a month that saw the Eagles place fifth at the Linger Longer Invitational (3/12-14) and the Schenkel Invitational (3/19-21) as well for three consecutive top-5 team finishes.
 
Sophomore Jon Hopkins leads the Eagles with a 72.60 scoring average (+0.80 vs. Par) followed by Van Holmgren's 72.50 (+1.00 vs. Par). All told, four different student-athletes have had top-five finishes at tournaments this spring.
 
Compared to last season, the Eagles have cut over 10 strokes from their average round score going from 300.7 in 2020 to 289.9 this year. Against par, FGCU has had an even greater improvement going from 15.7 strokes per round over par to 2.7 this spring.
 
The Eagles will next host the Old Corkscrew Intercollegiate on Monday and Tuesday, April 12-13, at the Old Corkscrew Golf Club in Estero. That will serve as the final tune up before the 2021 ASUN Championship on April 18-20 at the UGA Golf Club in Athens, Ga.

GolfStat.com Top 75 - April 7, 2021
1 Oklahoma 
2 Florida State
3 Oklahoma State 
4 Clemson University 
5 Texas 
6 Illinois
7 Pepperdine
8 Wake Forest 
9 NC State 
10 Georgia
11 Auburn 
12 Texas A&M 
13 Vanderbilt
14 Liberty
15 North Carolina
16 Arizona State 
17 Florida
18 Tennessee
19 Arizona
20 North Florida
21 Arkansas
22 SMU 
23 San Diego State
24 LSU 
25 Texas Tech 
26 Notre Dame
27 So. Florida
28 Georgia Tech 
29 San Franciscof 
30 Louisville
31 Alabama
32 New Mexico
33 UTSA 
34 UAB 
35 Georgia Southern
36 Baylor 
37 Stanford 
38 Ohio State
39 Virginia
40 Duke
41 Charlotte 
42 Mississippi St.
43 Washington
44 Iowa
45 Sam Houston State 
46 Houston 
47 Kent State 
48 Ole Miss 
49 South Carolina 
50 Missouri 
51 Arkansas State
52 UNCW 
53 Indiana 
54 Nevada
55 East Tennessee State 
56 Kansas 
57 Southern California 
58 Little Rock 
59 San Diego, U. of 
60 North Texas, U. of 
61 UCF 
62 Boise State
63 Oregon
64 Wisconsin
65 Oregon State 
66 Kentucky
67 TCU 
68 UNLV 
69 Florida Gulf Coast 
70 Northwestern 
71 Purdue 
72 Kansas State 
73 Utah
74 Saint Mary's (CA) 
75 Loyola Marymount 

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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FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April 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.
 
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 40 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 21, 2020-21), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) 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 in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 23 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, and 2020 Fall 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.