FGCU Men's Golf: Ryman Hospitality Intercollegiate Preview

The FGCU men's golf team is set to compete at the 2019 Ryman Hospitality Intercollegiate April 8-9 in the final tournament before the A-SUN Championships. The event will be contested at the par-71, 6,962-yard Richland Country Club and is being hosted by Lipscomb.

FGCU is the second-highest ranked team in the field, checking in at No. 147 in the most-recent GolfStat rankings. USC Upstate leads the way entering the tournament at No. 122. There are scheduled to be 36 holes contested on Monday, beginning with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. The 18-hole final round will be contended Tuesday.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles are coming off a T-4 effort at this past week's FAU Spring Championship, which marked the best finish in that event since 2015. The Green and Blue have also posted a runner-up finish at the Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate after winning the Colin Montgomerie Invitational to kickoff the spring.

"Richland is a hilly course, so the guys are going to get a little bit of an experience of what the ASUN Championship is requiring. This course will be a good prep for Chateau Elan (site of the conference tournament)," FGCU coach Eric Booker said. "We've got a good group of five players that are all motivated. I'm excited to see how they perform."

LINEUP
1. Cole Castro
2. Andrew Potter
3. Tate Heintzelman
4. Chase Bigham
5.  J.T. Barker

Potter leads the team with a scoring average of 72.09 this season. He owns 15 rounds (out of 23) at par or better and the 67 he fired in last week's FAU event was the second-lowest of his career. He has finished inside the top 25 in all eight tournaments, with a season-best T-5 coming at the Colin Montgomerie Invitational.

Castro's stroke average of 72.87 is right behind Potter for the team lead. He most-recently shot 208 at the FAU tournament, which was the lowest three-round total by an Eagle since 2013. His efforts garnered him his second A-SUN Men's Golfer of the Week laurel. He tied for fifth at that event and also tied for fourth in Fort Lauderdale. He has landed inside the top 30 in all eight events this season.

Heintzelman has competed in six tournaments and has compiled a stroke average of 74.00. He finished under par last week to tie for 21st with a season-low 215. He also recorded a T-5 performance in Texas to open the spring and has finished outside the top 30 in a tournament just once.

Bigham is averaging a 75.13 and has played in every event this season. He has factored into the team score in every single round he has played during the spring portion of the campaign. He tied for ninth at the Colin Montgomerie tourney and also landed at T-13 in Fort Lauderdale.

Barker will be seeing action in his third tournament for the Eagles. He has shot 228 in both events played so far, with his best effort being a T-49 in Fort Lauderdale.

Complete Field [Sorted by GolfStat ranking as of 4/3]:
122 - USC Upstate
147 - FGCU
154 - Southern Miss
160 - Bowling Green State
164 - Samford
166 - North Dakota State
171 - Austin Peay
180 - Belmont
184 - Bradley
208 - Lipscomb
220 - Xavier
226 - Omaha
237 - Stetson
238 - Loyola-Chicago
N/A - North Alabama

This will mark the first time FGCU has ever competed in a tournament hosted by Lipscomb. The only other time in school history the Eagles ventured to Nashville for an event was the 2007 Belmont Invitational.