FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU men’s golf team begins the 2023 spring season Monday at the Sea Best Invitational in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
The three-round tournament, hosted by Jacksonville, will be held at the Dye’s Valley course at TPC Sawgrass — a 6,790-yard, par-70 layout. Thirty-six holes of competition are scheduled for Monday, with the final 18 scheduled for Tuesday. The Eagles are set to tee off Monday morning starting at 8 am
FGCU enters the spring season ranked No. 60 in the Golfstat Rankings, and No. 68 overall in the Golfweek Collegiate Rankings.
The Eagles closed the 2022 fall season with their best showing, placing second of 18 competing programs at the Daniel island Intercollegiate, — just three strokes shy of No. 23 and tournament winner Mississippi State.
In 2021-22, the Green & Blue’s men’s golf team became the first program in FGCU Athletics history to earn an at-large berth into an NCAA Tournament. The Eagles’ road back to the Big Dance begins Monday.
Sophomore Lucas Fallotico (Cernusco sul Naviglo, Italy/Istituto Comprensivo/Aldo Moro Seregno), senior Pierre Viallaneix (Apopka, Fla./Winter Park HS/Western Carolina), fifth-year senior John Hopkins (Bishop’s Stortford, England/Hockerill Anglo-European College/Mississippi Gulf Coast CC), junior Austin Cherichella (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS) and freshman Sam Baker (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet HS) are FGCU’s projected starting five at Sea Best.
Junior Thomas Salanito (Palm Harbor, Fla./Clearwater Central Catholic) and freshman Lukas Roessler (Santiago, Chile/Olimpo School) will be competing as individuals.
For complete coverage of FGCU men’s golf, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram (@FGCU_MGolf), Facebook (@FGCUAthletics), and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU men’s golf and all 15 sports programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
PARTICIPATING TEAMS:
Campbell
Charleston Southern
College of Charleston
FAU
#60 FGCU
#9 Florida
Jacksonville
#40 Liberty
#32 Lipscomb
#44 Louisville
#42 North Florida
USC Upstate
UTSA
HEAD COACH ANDREW DANNA
Danna is in his fourth year at the helm of the men’s golf program with the Eagles earning FGCU’s first-ever NCAA Tournament at-large berth in department history during the 2022 season. He has led the Eagles to second-place finishes at the 2021 and 2022 ASUN Championships and was named the program’s first-ever ASUN Coach of the Year (2021) and repeated in 2022. One of the best turnarounds in NCAA history saw the Green and Blue, led by Van Holmgren who became the first player to earn PING All-Region honors, jump from No. 257 in the final 2019-20 GolfStat.com rankings to a then program-best 65 to close out 2020-21. The Eagles set a new program-best during the 2022 season at No. 47 in the GolfStat.com rankings. Holmgren won the ASUN Championship individual title to qualify for the NCAA Regionals. Before taking over in Fort Myers, he served the 2018-19 season as the assistant at LSU. Prior to that he was the ultra-successful head coach for six years at Lynn University where he led them to the 2018 NCAA Division II national championship and was, subsequently, chosen the David Williams National Coach of the Year. He also led the Fighting Knights to three national runner-up placements, with a third and eighth place finish in his other two seasons.
EAGLE CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal – a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the EAGLE Campaign – Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics’ charities of choice . For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and use the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 94 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of DI postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men’s golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women’s basketball (No. 20, 2021-22 and No. 25 in 2022-23) beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men’s soccer ( 2018, 2019) and women’s soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA’s Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general university undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
—FGCUATHLETICS.COM—