FGCU MGOLF: Intercollegiate at Innisbrook Day One Recap

A strong first round of play where the Eagles tied for eighth paced the day as FGCU finished the first day of the Intercollegiate at Innisbrook in 13th overall on Monday. Senior Doug Smith shot a two-under par 69 pacing FGCU to open the two-day tournament at the Copperhead Course before finishing the day tied for 33rd individually.

As a team, the Eagles shot 601 (295-306) to enter Tuesday's third round on the par 71 course ahead of William & Mary, Temple and Hartford. Campbell and James Madison finished Monday with the team lead shooting 562 each.

In the first round, FGCU finished tied for eighth with a two-stroke lead over No. 16 UCF and sat just three strokes behind No. 28 Houston (292). Smith's 69 came on six birdies including four on the front nine. It also marked his second consecutive round shooting a season-low 69 after doing so during the third round of the J.T. Poston Invitational.

Junior J.T. Barker, who led the Eagles in the second round alongside sophomore Luke Farmer, was just behind with a score of 73 while Farmer notched a 74 to start the day.

"Our team got off to a good start this morning," said head coach Andrew Danna. "I'm proud of our guys for how they handled the day. We are looking forward to the opportunity to compete for 18 more holes tomorrow."

The second round saw Barker and Farmer lead the way as each shot 76 followed by 77's from Smith and junior Tyler Carlson. Barker finished the day tied for 53rd with a two-round score of 149, while Farmer tied for 59th (150).

Tuesday's third round action begins at 8:15 AM at the Copperhead Course. Following the Intercollegiate at Innisbrook, the Eagles will host the Homewood Suites FGCU Classic on Sunday, Nov. 3 and Monday, Nov. 4 at the Old Corkscrew Golf Club in Estero to close out the fall campaign.


FGCU DAY ONE RESULTS (ROUND 1 & 2)
13 Florida Gulf Coast University 295 306 601
T33 Doug Smith (1) 69 77 146
T53 J.T. Barker (3) 73 76 149
T59 Luke Farmer (4) 74 76 150
T82 Tyler Carlson (2) 80 77 157
T82 Brent Fredericksen (5) 79 78 157

TEAM SCORES (ROUND 1 & 2)
T1 - No. 62 Campbell - 281-281-562
T1 - No. 61 James Madison - 286-276-562
3 - No. 49 Memphis - 287-278-565
4 - No. 39 South Florida - 282-285-567
5 - No. 28 Houston - 292-280-572
6 - No. 108 Maryland - 285-288-573
7 - No. 68 East Carolina - 290-288-578
8 - No. 213 Delaware - 295-289-584
9 - No. 217 Wichita State - 295-290-585
10 - No. 16 UCF - 297-289-586
11 - No. 130 USC Upstate - 297-294-591
12 - No. 260 Houston Baptist - 303-291-594
13 - No. 257 FGCU - 295-306-601
14 - No. 172 William & Mary - 308-294-602
15 - No. 207 Temple - 305-299-604
16 - No. 205 Hartford - 318-302-620

Quotes From Other Coaches:
James Madison: "I was really happy with the way we competed today, especially coming down the stretch to put ourselves at the top of the leaderboard against a really talented field," said head coach Jeff Forbes. "With as strong of a leaderboard as this is, we know we have to come out tomorrow with the same focus and quality."

USF: "We had some good stuff at times and some bad stuff at times," said assistant coach Brad Caldwell. "It was good to see Kyle (Flexsenhar) come out here this morning and put together a good score. We have kind of relied on Luke (Gifford)and Albin (Bergstrom) early on and to see him put together his lowest round of the season was really good. Ryo (Furuya) played well this morning, but there were too many mistakes to compound the good stuff today."

"We weren't as consistent as we needed to be on this golf course. It's a hard golf course, we know that, and we made a bunch of mental errors when we didn't need to. We'd get two to four good holes together and then make a mental mistake and you're kind of back to square one. We were continually in that cycle, where we couldn't stream together as good of a day as it could have been. I think everybody had between a B-minus game to a D game. If we come out tomorrow and everybody puts together an A game, we've got a really good chance to win this thing still. To be where we're at and be only five shots back, we've got a chance tomorrow."

Upstate: "Our place after day one doesn't reflect the effort these guys put in on the course today," USC Upstate head golf coach Todd Lawton said. "We missed several chances to be much better by only a yard or two. We have a great course and a great field to compete against."