GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Furman men's golf team will entertain 20 teams at the 50th Annual Furman Intercollegiate this weekend, March 22-24, at the par-71, 6,994-yard Furman University Golf Club.
This year's field includes the host Paladins, Akron, Charleston Southern, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Dartmouth, Davidson, Francis Marion, Georgia State, High Point, Marshall, Minnesota, Presbyterian, Samford, USC Aiken, which ranks 31st nationally in Division II, USC Upstate, Virginia Tech, Wichita State, Winthrop, Wofford, and Yale.
Round one of the 54-hole tournament tees off on Friday morning at 8:20 a.m. with second round play slated for 8:20 a.m. on Saturday. Final round action is scheduled to begin with a 9 a.m. shotgun start on Sunday morning.
On Friday, Furman will tee off of No. 1 beginning at 8:20 a.m., then on Saturday, the Paladins will tee off of No. 10 beginning at 12:20 p.m. Individuals will tee off immediately following the team on No. 1 on Friday and on No. 10 on Saturday. Furman will play in a group with Minnesota and Yale during the first and second rounds.
The Paladin lineup will include seniors Connor Bruns and Raj Ghosh and juniors Keller Harper, Scott Purvis, and Stephen Reynolds. Furman's Garrison Hogan, Jack Crosby, Jake Reilly, Matt Lehman, Nathan Norfleet, Owen Burden, and Phil Jones will compete as individuals.
North Florida won last year's tournament by 18 strokes over second-place West Virginia. Individual medalist Phillip Knowles (-9) of North Florida posted a three-day total of 66-71-70=207 for the win. The Paladins finished fourth last season and were led by Harper, who tied for ninth.
The Furman University Golf Course was designed by Richard K. Webel of Long Island, N.Y., and Walter Cosby, superintendent of grounds and greens at the Greenbriar Hotel and Golf Resort. The course was redesigned by Kris Spence in 2010. Since the late 1970s, the course has been the site of two outstanding college tournaments, the Furman Intercollegiate and the Lady Paladin Invitational. In addition, the course hosts a number of local and state tournaments.
Through the years, a number of familiar names have played the course and participated in the Furman Intercollegiate. Past winners include Curtis Strange, Jay Haas, Mark Calcavecchia, Billy Andrade, Matt Kuchar and Furman's own Brad Faxon. LPGA stars Betsy King, Beth Daniel, Sherri Turner and Dottie Pepper, plus Faxon and current Furman men's golf assistant and former Web.com Tour player Matt Davidson all played their collegiate golf on the course as members of the Furman golf teams.
Fans can log on to http://www.furmanpaladins.com or http://www.golfstatresults.com to follow live scoring during all three rounds.
Julie Paré, Furman Sports Information
