PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - The FGCU men's golf team closed the Sea Best Invitational with its best team round Tuesday of the two-day event to finish fifth.
FGCU cut nine strokes off its round-two total and two shots from its opening-round effort to post a final-round 283. The Green & Blue's strong finish propelled itself ahead of No. 31 Lipscomb by 15 strokes.
"I'm proud of our team," said FGCU head men's golf coach Andrew Danna. "Great effort today, which gave us a good result. We are really looking forward to our next opportunity to compete."
The 13-team Sea Best Invitational field at the Dye's Valley course at TPC Sawgrass -- a 6,790-yard, par-70 layout -- consisted of five top-50 programs, including two Power Five opponents. At 860, the No. 60 Eagles trailed No. 44 Louisville by four shots for fourth place.
No. 9 Florida won both the team and individual titles Tuesday. As a team, the Gators finished 14 under par -- with No. 66 Fred Biondi and Ricky Castillo tyingfor the individual medalist at 6 under par
Junior Austin Cherichella (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS) led all Eagles with a season-best finish on the individual leaderboard, tying for ninth with back-to-round 1-under-par 69s. Cherichella was one of only 13 golfers to finish at even par or better. His even-par 210 also placed higher than four top 100 ranked players.
Of the five eagles that were made throughout the course of the tournament, FGCU's Cherichella cashed in for two.
Fifth-year senior Jon Hopkins (Bishop's Stortford, England/Hockerill Anglo-European College/Mississippi Gulf Coast CC) posted a top-20 performance, entering the clubhouse tied for 18th at 4 over par.
Senior Pierre Viallaneix (Apopka, Fla./Winter Park HS/Western Carolina), sophomore Lucas Fallotico (Cernusco sul Naviglo, Italy/Istituto Comprensivo Aldo Moro Seregno) and freshman Sam Baker (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet HS) each improved upon their round-two scorecards. Viallaneix cut three strokes to match his best round (71), while Fallotico notched his best round (73) by also shaving three shots. Baker eliminated seven strokes for a final-round of 74.
FGCU will return to action Feb. 5-8 for The Hayt tournament in Jacksonville, Fla. – hosted by the University of North Florida.
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.
FGCU STARTING FIVE:
T9 Austin Cherichella 72-69-69 | 210 | E
T18 Jon Hopkins 71-73-70 | 214 | +4
T26 Pierre Viallaneix 71-74-71 | 216 | +6
T49 Lucas Fallotico 74-76-73 | 223 | +13
T57 Sam Baker 71-81-74 | 226 | +16
*Individuals
T45 Lukas Roessler 75-75-72 | 222 | +12
T57 Thomas Salanito 78-70-78 | 226 | +16
TEAM LEADERBOARD:
1 - #9 Florida 279-272-271 | 826 | -14
2 - #42 North Florida 286-275-288 | 849 | +9
3 - #40 Liberty 291-280-283 | 854 | +14
4 - #44 Louisville 285-291-280 | 856 | +16
5 - #60 FGCU 285-292-283 | 860 | +20
6 - #31 Lipscomb 294-296-285 | 875 | +35
7 - FAU 290-288-299 | 877 | +37
T8 - UTSA 304-289-288 | 881 | +41
T8 - Jacksonville 284-292-305 | 881 | +41
10 - Campbell 304-290-289 | 882| +42
11 - College of Charleston 295-297-294 | 885 | +45
12 - Charleston Southern 297-294-299 | 890 | +50
13 - USC Upstate 301-303-297 | 901 | +61
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.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/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 https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
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.
---FGCUATHLETICS.COM---
