GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Furman men's golf team will compete at the Highlands Invitational, which is being hosted by Wake Forest Monday and Tuesday at the par 72, 7,490 yard Chicago Highlands Club in Westchester, Ill.
"Being a new event, we have heard great things about Chicago Highlands Club, but are really looking forward to seeing it in person," said Furman head coach Matt Davidson, the reigning Southern Conference Coach of the Year. "We will have to do a great job in the practice round forming a solid game plan, and the guys will be ready to compete hard. It is another great field this week, and we plan to embrace the challenge, get in contention, and have some fun doing it."
Teams will play 36 of the tournament's 54 holes on Monday beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET. Furman will tee off on No. 1 starting at 10:10 a.m. ET and will play in a group with Wake Forest's B team and Missouri on Monday.
Furman will be joined in the 14-team field by host Wake Forest, College of Charleston, Duke, Houston, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia, and Yale.
The Paladin lineup for the tournament includes junior Will Morlan; senior Walker Crosby; junior Trey Diehl, who won the Minnesota Golf Classic to open the season; senior Demi Di Matteo; and sophomore Zach Frazer,
Admission is free and fans are welcome. Live tournament scoring for both events will be available via www.golfstat.com.
Furman concluded the 2022-23 season ranked 62nd by Golfstat and 58th by Golfweek. The Paladins received an at-large regional bid for the first time since 2002, making their fifth NCAA Regional appearance and first since 2010.
At the NCAA Salem Regional, Sam Lape fired a final-round 64 to finish second, the highest regional finish in Furman men's golf history, and claim the region's individual bid to the championship. After posting rounds of 65-72-64=201 to finish 15-under par at the event, he became the first Paladin to compete at the NCAA Championship since Kirk Satterfield finished fifth at the 2001 NCAA East Regional to advance to the finals.
Also during the 2022-23 season, Morlan, a PING All-Region Team selection, became the first Paladin to win three individual titles in a season since Brad Faxon accomplished the feat in 1983. An All-Southern Conference honoree, he led the Paladins and ranked second in the league with a 70.06 stroke average over 36 rounds, the lowest season stroke average in the history of the Furman program.
In September, he tied for the individual championship at the Old Town Collegiate with a three-round score of 10-under after shooting a career-best 63 in the second round, then he tied for individual medalist honors at the Furman Intercollegiate at 9-under in October. Morlan shot 18-under par to win the Hootie at Bulls Bay in March, setting both a Furman and tournament 54-hole record.
Barth was voted to the 2023 SoCon All-Freshman Team with a 72.4 stroke average over 21 spring rounds, while the Paladin team finished as runner-up at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate and took third place at both the SoCon Championship and the Old Town Collegiate.
