FORT MYERS, Fla. - Former FGCU men's golf standout Frankie Capan III finished tied 17th on Wednesday in his second-ever professional event, The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay.

"We are all so proud of Frankie, " said FGCU men's golf head coach Andrew Danna. "This is a good start and we look forward to seeing him succeed and flourish in the professional ranks for years to come."

Capan III shot under par during all four rounds of play to enter the clubhouse with an 8-under 280 for the four-day tournament. He finished just two strokes shy of placing top 10 on the leaderboard, as Canadian Ben Silverman won the tournament at 17-under 203.

Capan III closed with back-to-back rounds of 2-under 70 after carding a professional career-low round of 69 on Monday. He fired a bogey-free back nine, sinking four of his five birdies over that stretch, Monday to finish 3-under for the day and 4-under for the tournament.

To highlight his opening round, Capan III made an eagle 3 on the par-5 eighth hole.

Capan III earned his Korn Ferry Tour Card in the fall of 2022, as he finished tied for eighth at the Korn Ferry Q-School Tournament in Savannah, Ga., to receive partial exemption status. With that particular finish, he is guaranteed 12 starts and will receive exempt status through the first two re-orders of the tour next season.

Capan III joins 2023 FGCU Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Derek Lamely, a PGA Tour winner, and Joey Lamielle, full Nationwide Tour status in 2009, as one of the notable FGCU golf greats to have success at the professional level.

Capan III competed in 18 tournaments as an Eagle from 2020-22 after transferring from Alabama, logging 54 rounds and holding a 72.35 scoring average. His career scoring average ranks fourth in program history.

He notched a win at the Auburn Tiger Invitational setting a new FGCU 54-hole scoring record and also tied the lowest round in program history with back-to-back rounds of 64. His 197 was the first sub-200 performance in school history.

The North Oaks, Minn., native was a two-time ASUN Second Team selection and was also a key contributor in helping the men's golf team become first program in FGCU Athletics history to earn an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament.

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HEAD COACH ANDREW DANNA
Danna is in his fourth year at the helm of the men's golf program with the Eagles earning FGCU's first-ever NCAA Tournament at-large berth in department history during the 2022 season. He has led the Eagles to second-place finishes at the 2021 and 2022 ASUN Championships and was named the program's first-ever ASUN Coach of the Year (2021) and repeated in 2022. 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 then program-best 65 to close out 2020-21. The Eagles set a new program-best during the 2022 season at No. 47 in the GolfStat.com rankings. Holmgren won the ASUN Championship individual title to qualify for the NCAA Regionals. 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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FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 94 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22 and No. 25 in 2022-23) beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & 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 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative 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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