GADSDEN, Ala. – Austin Cherichella (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS) and Brady Madsen (Raymond, Minn./MacCray HS/Winona State) sit tied for 10^th individually as the FGCU men's golf team is tied for sixth overall after the first 36 holes of the Graeme McDowell Invitational hosted by UAB on Monday. Play was suspended on Monday night due to darkness with three teams slated to finish second round play on Tuesday morning.
 
"We did a lot of things well today, but we still had too many fundamental mistakes," said head coach Andrew Danna. "It was a good second round overall and we will build on that as we look to finish the third round on a strong note tomorrow."
 
No. 36 UAB leads the field at RTJ at Silver Lakes with a two-round score of 558. Texas State sits second (570), while Lipscomb (574) is third. FGCU is tied with Troy for sixth with a 36-hole total of 579. The Eagles shot 285 in the second round to cut nine strokes from their morning round.
 
Along with Cherichella and Madsen, Pierre Viallaneix (Apopka, Fla./Winter Park HS/Western Carolina) is tied for 35^th after shooting 147 followed by Frankie Capan III (North Oaks, Minn./Northwest Christian HS/Alabama) who shot 149. Both Viallaneix and Capan shot 73 alongside Madsen in the second round. Cherichella had the lowest round score of the day for the entire field with a 66 in the second round. Thomas Salanito (Palm Harbor, Fla./Clearwater Central Catholic), who is competing as an individual, is tied for 64^th (152), while Jon Hopkins (Bishop's Stortford, England/Mississippi Gulf Coast CC) is tied for 80^th (156).
 
Cherichella's second round was paced by eight birdies after he stormed back from a five-over 77 in the first round. Madsen also had eight birdies in the first round to offset a pair of doubles to finish with a two-under 70 to start the day. He added five more birdies in the second round to finish plus one.
 
After shooting 74 in the first round, Viallaneix cut a stroke off his total in the afternoon. Capan also had a strong second round as he tallied three birdies in the final five holes, but carded a double-bogey to finish one over.
 
FGCU posted the second-most birdies through the first two rounds with 40 total, but struggled on par five scoring (5.15, +6). Madsen led the field with 13 individual birdies, while Cherichella was third with 10.
 
The Eagles will begin third round play at approximately 9:30 AM (8:30 CT) with live scoring provided through www.GolfStat.com.
 
FGCU Lineup:
T10 - Austin Cherichella – 77-66 – 143
T10 - Brady Madsen – 70-73 – 143
T35 - Pierre Viallaneix – 74-73 – 147
T51 - Frankie Capan III – 76-73 – 149
T64 - Thomas Salanito (Individual) – 78-74 - 152
T80 - Jon Hopkins – 74-82 – 156
 
Graeme Invitational Field:
1 - #36 UAB-A – 281-277-558
2 - #117 Texas State – 283-287 - 570
3 - #152 Lipscomb – 288-286 - 574
4 - #124 South Alabama – 290-xx
5 - #86 Louisiana-Monroe – 293-284 - 577
T6 - #65 FGCU – 294-285 - 579
T6 - #167 Troy – 293-286 - 579
8 - #172 Western Kentucky – 296-284 - 580
9 - #120 Jacksonville State – 293-288 - 581
10 - North Alabama – 288-xx
11 - #135 Charleston Southern – 286-xx
T12 - #99 Louisiana – 294-297 - 591
T12 - UAB-B – 294-297 – 591
14 - #206 Samford – 298-295 - 593
T15 - #204 Winthrop – 306-300 - 606
T15 - #136 Georgia State – 300-306 - 606
 
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HEAD COACH ANDREW DANNA:
Danna just finished his second year at the helm of the FGCU men's golf program leading the Eagles to a second place finish at the ASUN Championship. One of the best turnarounds in NCAA history saw the Green and Blue, led by Van Holmgren who became the first player to earn PING All-Region honors, jump from No. 257 in the final 2019-20 GolfStat.com rankings to a program-best 65 to close out 2020-21. Before taking over in Fort Myers, he served the 2018-19 season as the assistant at LSU. Prior to that he was the ultra-successful head coach for six years at Lynn University where he led them to the 2018 NCAA Division II national championship and was, subsequently, chosen the David Williams National Coach of the Year. He also led the Fighting Knights to three national runner-up placements, with a third and eighth place finish in his other two seasons.
  
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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 42 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 24 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. 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.