FGCU MGOLF: Ryman Hospitality Intercollegiate Day One Recap

 The FGCU men's golf team sits 14th after Monday's opening round of the 2019 Ryman Hospitality Intercollegiate, which is being contested at the par-71, 6,943-yard Richland Country Club.

The tournament was originally scheduled for 54 holes, with 36 slated for today. Due to inclement weather in the morning, tee times were pushed back to noon and competitors were only able to play one round. The event was slashed to 36 holes, with the final round coming tomorrow.

The Eagles carded a 24-over-par 308 and is blanketed by North Dakota State (20-over 304) and Stetson (26-over 310). Samford leads the field at 1-over 285, while Bradley is right behind at 2-over 286. Southern Miss settled into third at 5-over 289, and USC Upstate and Omaha are locked in a tie for fourth at 8-over 292.

"The experience today is exactly why we wanted to play in this tournament. This course is very similar to how the A-SUN tournament will play, so being here is helping us pinpoint what we need to work on before conference," FGCU coach Eric Booker said. "Tee to green we were right there with everyone else, but the difference for us was in our lag putting. These greens are slopy, and we were really off on the greens today. That's something that we are definitely going to need to improve on over these next few weeks."

True freshman Tate Heintzelmanleads the Green and Blue after shooting 5-over 76 and sitting in a tie for 45th. Sophomore Cole Castro and true freshman Chase Bigham are tied for 53rd at 6-over 77, while senior Andrew Potter is T-66 at 7-over 78. Sophomore J.T. Barker rounds out the Eagles and sits T-82 at 12-over 83.

Bradley's Charles Jahn leads the field at 3-under 68.

FGCU will begin teeing off in the final round at 9:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

RYMAN HOSPITALITY INTERCOLLEGIATE – First Round Results
April 8-9, 2019 at Nashville, Tenn.
(par-71, 6,943-yard Richland Country Club)

Team Results
1. #164 Samford 285 (+1)
2. #184 Bradley 286 (+2)
3. #154 Southern Miss 289 (+5)
T4. #122 USC Upstate 292 (+8)
#226 Omaha 292 (+8)
T6. #180 Belmont 295 (+11)
#171 Austin Peay 295 (+11)
T8. #160 Bowling Green 296 (+12)
#220 Xavier 296 (+12)
North Alabama 296 (+12)
11. #208 Lipscomb 297 (+13)
12. #238 Loyola-Chicago 299 (+15)
13. #166 North Dakota State 304 (+20)
14. #147 FGCU 308 (+24)
15. #237 Stetson 310 (+26)
16. Lipscomb (B) 316 (+32)

Rankings reflect the latest Golfstat Rankings
Top-5 Individuals
1. Charles Jahn (Bradley) 68 (-3)
T2. Aaron Walker (Samford) 69 (-2)
Van Holmgren (North Dakota State) 69 (-2)
Rodrigue Vie (Bowling Green) 69 (-2)
T5. Brian Richards (Southern Miss) 70 (-1)
Drake Bushong (Bradley) 70 (-1)

FGCU Individuals
T45. Tate Heintzelman 76 (+5)
T53. Cole Castro 77 (+6)
Chase Bigham 77 (+6)
T66. Andrew Potter 78 (+7)
T82. J.T. Barker 83 (+12)

Up Next:
FGCU will compete April 21-23 at the 2019 A-SUN Championships in Braselton, Georgia.