The Georgia Southern men’s golf team finished 2nd out of 14 teams – including five ranked in the top 40 nationally – at the Schenkel Invitational in Statesboro this weekend.

Team rounds

The Forest Heights Country Club hosted No. 2 ranked Vanderbilt and No. 5 ranked Florida among others, both of which the Eagles fought neck-and-neck with until the end.

The Eagles ended up edging Vanderbilt with a final team score of 16-under-par to Vandy’s 15-under-par. The Florida Gators, though, came back in the last round to surpass the Eagles and the Commodores and take first place with an 18-under-par performance.

The 2nd place finish was the Eagles’ third top-3 finish at Schenkel in the last five years.

Individual rounds

Three GS golfers finished in the top 15 on the individual leaderboard.

“It really shows the progress we’ve made this season,” GS head coach Carter Collins said.

GS sophomore Steven Fisk tied for 8th place overall. His Friday and Saturday rounds were a 3-under-par 69 and a 5-under-par 67, setting him up at the top of the leaderboard so that his Sunday 75 didn’t drop him out of the top 10. His final tally was 5-under-par for the invitational.

GS junior Archer Price placed tied for 12th overall with a steady tournament of two rounds of 1-under-par 71 and a round of 2-under-par 70.

GS freshman Brett Barron started the tournament with a 5-under-par 67 followed by a 7-under-par 66 – tied for the best round of the tournament by any player in the field. His final round placed him tied for 15th individually.

Junior Jake Story shot a final-round 71 to vault himself into the top 30 players at 29th. GS sophomore Crawford Simmons notched a 1-over-par for the tournament, placing him tied for 34th overall.

Vanderbilt’s Patrick Martin took home the individual win, shooting a remarkable 12-under-par overall after rounds of 70, 68, and 66.

The Eagles’ young players brought them into position to compete with two of the top five teams in the country, and the veterans closed the deal on the Eagles’ most impressive performance of the season so far. Barron and Fisk started fast, and juniors Price and Storey steadied the ship in the last round.

The Eagles’ next outing will be at the Furman Intercollegiate beginning this Friday, March 24 in Greenville, South Carolina.