PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - The No. 60 FGCU men's golf team surged up the leaderboard Sunday during second-round action of The Hayt -- moving into fifth heading into Monday's final round.
FGCU shaved 21 strokes from its opening-round 301 with an 8-under 280 team score in round two to move up seven spots.
The Green & Blue now holds a one-stroke advantage over No. 39 Arkansas, and is six shots ahead of No. 17 Alabama entering Monday's final round.
"I'm really proud of our team," said head FGCU men's golf coach Andrew Danna. "They did a great job staying focused throughout the entire day. It was a long day. We are looking forward to another opportunity to compete (Monday) morning."
The conclusion of the second round was halted due to darkness -- leaving Louisiana Tech, North Texas, and Jacksonville State to finish play in the morning. FGCU was able to finish, and will begin Monday's action with its final round.
No. 2 Vanderbilt leads the 14-team field at 17-under par. The Commodores also claim the top spot on the individual leaderboard, as the No. 1 overall Golfstat ranking golfer, Gordon Sargent, is 10-under through the two rounds. Sargent fired a second-round 64 to highlight his effort.
Junior Austin Cherichella (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS) paces the Eagles' starting five, as he is tied for fourth at 4-under. His second-round 69, highlighted by his third eagle of the spring, marked his fourth consecutive under-par round. Cherichella also sits ahead of eight top 100 ranked golfers.
Teammate and fellow Eagle senior Pierre Viallaneix (Apopka, Fla./Winter Park HS/Western Carolina) is tied for 20th at 1-over, improving by five strokes from his first round with a second-round 70.
Four Eagles would card even or under-par rounds during round two. Freshman Sam Baker (Cloquet, Minn/Cloquet HS) matched Viallaneix by also cutting five strokes, but fifth-year senior Jon Hopkins (Bishop's Stortford, England/Hockerill Anglo-European College/Mississippi Gulf Coast CC) slashed nine shots to hit the red numbers.
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FGCU STARTING FIVE:
T4
Austin Cherichella 71-69 | 140 | -4
T20
Pierre Viallaneix 75-70 | 145 | +1
T31
Sam Baker 76-71 | 147 | +3
T47
Jon Hopkins 79-70 | 149 | +5
77
Lucas Fallotico 79-80 | 159 | +15
*Individual
T75
Thomas Salanito 78-80 | 158 | +14
TEAM LEADERBOARD:
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.
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