Men’s golf
The men’s “A” golf team, after finishing the first round in ninth place, swung into third for a strong finish at the Homewood/Hilton Garden Airport & FGCU Classic.
Senior Austin Schultz led the third round at 4-under for the day, impressive considering the team went from a 311 opening round to finishing with a 289 on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The team finished with a total of 897, finishing behind powerhouses Georgetown and No. 22 University of Florida.
The top-three finish is the best the team has seen since winning the Harmony Preserve Intercollegiate hosted by Stetson in March 2014.
The “B” team also had a top-30 finisher in ninth place — ahead of three other schools’ “A” teams — with a three-round 933.
Individually, the team members had one of their best collegiate performances yet.
“I’m really proud of the guys. We were near the bottom of the field midway through day one, but they fought back. We have a lot of good players who can be No. 1 on the team any given day,” head coach Eric Booker said. “It was nice to see some other guys step up in a big way today. Austin has been a little up and-down, but to his credit he hung in there and had a great round. Zach doesn’t hit it a long way, but he finds a way to get the ball in the hole, and he did a great job of that today.”
Schultz tied his careerlow round with the 68. Zachary Smith made 13 pars, three birdies and two bogeys.
Women’s golf
After their first round on Sunday, Oct. 24, the women’s golf team held 12th in the 38th Annual Pat Bradley Invitational. When they finished the tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 27, the team had improved to a sixth place, among the top half of the 14- team field.
With the 901 total score, FGCU finished ahead of FAU, Bradley, Georgia State, Cincinnati, A-Sun foe Jacksonville, North Texas and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
“I am so proud of our strong play again today,” head coach Sarah Trew said in a press release. “We had a ton of birdies early and had things really rolling. We left some shots out there on the second 9, but posted a great team score overall. It’s encouraging to see our girls score well and feel they can go even lower. I’m confident we will see some record team scores carrying this momentum into the spring and postseason.”
Megan Blonien led FGCU finishing in eighth-place, over 75 players. Blonien started her third day with two and carded 11 pars to finish at plus-4. The junior finished just three strokes out of the top five.
Mei Khuan Yong played her best collegiate round, finishing with a plus-1 score.
The Pat Bradley Invitational served as the team’s final fall event. The Eagles will return in February. Including an invitational the Eagles will be hosting Invitational Feb. 12- 14 at Stoneybrook Country Club.