BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State men's golf will embark to the Piedmont to compete in their third fall event of 2019. The Mountaineers are set to tee off from the Phoenix Invitational, hosted by Elon University, in Burlington, North Carolina starting tomorrow morning through Oct. 15.
"I expect to compete," head coach Danny Forshey said. "We are going to go out there, play as hard as we can and see what happens at the end."
The two-day, three-round tournament event will be played at Alamance Country Club, a par-71 6,867 yard course.
A total of 16 participating universities, 99 players, are listed in the invitational competition including five schools from the state of North Carolina. Elon, Appalachian State, Gardner-Webb, UNCG and East Carolina will represent the Tar Heel State. However, both UNCG and East Carolina are competing as individuals only. The full list of university participants can be viewed at the bottom of this preview.
In the fall of 2017, the Apps finished tied for fourth out of 16 at this particular invitational.
Today, Sunday, consisted of a soggy, all-day practice round session. Day one and round one, Monday, will begin in a shotgun format starting at 8:45 a.m. Monday will also see the complete action of round two, totaling a scheduled 36 holes for day one.
The third and final 18-hole round is set for Tuesday beginning at 8 a.m.
The Black and Gold traveled with six total golfers down to the Phoenix Invitational. Timothius Tirto Tamardi, Jake Lane, Lukas Jönnson, Nicholas Gunnell and Dylan Lukes round out the projected starting five. Freshman Addison Beam will take part in his first collegiate tournament as an individual.
"We can't win having one or two guys playing well each week," Forshey said. "All five are going to have to play well. That's the key to winning in college golf."
LAST TIME OUT...
The Mountaineers secured a second place finish at the Wildcat Invitational paced by Lane's 5-under-par effort. Lane's career-best to-par score along with tying a career-low round of 68 propelled him to a top 3 finish. The top 3 finish marked his sixth top 5 finish of his collegiate career.
"Since the tournament, there's definitely been a feeling of a chip on our shoulder for sure," Lane said. "We didn't like coming second, and we wanted to win that tournament (Wildcat Invitational) a lot. So, we're looking to get it back in the next one."
Tamardi, who currently holds a team-low round average of 70.5 along with Lane, has carded a team-high 26 birdies in competition. 15 of the 26 came by the way of the Wildcat Invitational spurred by tying the school record for the lowest 18-hole tournament round of golf, a 65.
Jönnson also posted a career-low round of 69 at the Wildcat Invitational en route to a career-best 10th place finish. Gunnell entered the clubhouse from the Wildcat Invitational tied for 17th, highest personal finish on the leaderboard since his Sun Belt Championships appearance a season ago. Lukes carded a personal-best finish up in Pennsylvania as well, also tied for 17th, since a 37th place effort at the Coca-Cola Wofford Invitational during the 2017-18 campaign.
"We need to learn from the experience and start focusing on finishing better," Lane said. "The majority of us didn't finish well either round of that tournament. If we focus on that, we're going to be right there."
As a team, the Black and Gold continues to reveal signs of improvement. The Mountaineers possess an average three-round player total of 217, well under last year's (returnees) 300.3. Appalachian also sits well under their average, returning-team tournament total of 900.9, from a season ago, to this year's 857.
"We're still trying to tidy up the short game and tidy up the wedges," Forshey said. "Still always focusing on the mentality. It doesn't matter how we hit it or where we hit it, we're still going to find a way to get it in the hole to shoot a score. That's the mentality we must have."
To follow along with the scores from the Phoenix Invitational, Mountaineer golf fans can download and use a free mobile App known as BirdieFire.
(Link to a laptop and or tablet viewing version https://birdiefire.com/tournament/61746/)
Official List of Participating Teams:
Elon
La Salle
Drexel
Wofford
Gardner-Webb
Presbyterian
Radford
Towson
Appalachian State
Temple
George Washington
Navy
Ohio
Longwood
Morehead State
George Mason
Individuals: UNCG and East Carolina
