BOONE, N.C. - App State men's golf prepares to close out a successful fall slate with the Kiawah Classic at Turtle Point, hosted by Charleston Southern University, from Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
"We have continued to grow as a team this fall, and we are always looking to continue to improve," first-year head coach Danny Forshey said. "Mentality and short game are the still areas that we are looking to keep improving."
The three-day, three-round tournament event is set to begin tomorrow morning, Sunday, Nov. 3 at Turtle Point Golf Course. Turtle Point, exemplifying Jack Nicklaus' firm design philosophy where a golfer must use mind over muscle, is a 6,911-yard par 72 course. As a team, the Mountaineers hold a 72.74 collective round average for the fall.
Kiawah Island is located just 25 miles southwest of historic Charleston, South Carolina. Competing at the Kiawah Classic will mark just the second time this fall that the Black and Gold have traveled south for an event. The Mountaineers opened the 2019 fall campaign from the state of Mississippi at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate, finishing ninth.
A total of 21 universities will be participating in the Kiawah Classic, including a 24th ranked SEC opponent per Golfstat. Augusta, No. 24 Auburn, College of Charleston, Charleston Southern, Cincinnati, Hampton, Eastern Kentucky, Winthrop, Chattanooga, Francis Marion, High Point, Western Carolina, Furman, Samford, Memphis, Radford, USC Upstate, Jacksonville State, Presbyterian, and Gardner-Webb round out the field along with Appalachian State.
The Mountaineers will be sending just five golfers down to Kiawah Island. Timothius Tirto Tamardi, Jake Lane, Dylan Lukes, Nicholas Gunnell, and Addison Beam all made the trip south.
Last time out, App State used the second-lowest final round of the day at the 15th Annual Grandover Collegiate to capture their third consecutive top-3 finish for the first time since the 2017-18 season. In doing such, the Black and Gold bested not one but two Power Five opponents at Grandover, the Hokies of Virginia Tech and the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Although the Apps sank their lowest birdie total of the fall season last week with just 36, they ranked third among all participating teams for the above tournament in made pars with a total of 161.
"It's always nice to get out of the gates fast and off to a hot start, however, our focus is on finishing," Forshey said. "We are focused on finishing the round regardless of how we started."
Tamardi, who leads the squad in both made birdies (46) and the lowest round average (70.58) for the fall, secured his third-straight top 3 finish on the player leaderboard last week tying for the 7th position. Finishing seventh marks his personal best finish as a Mountaineers.Tamardi has finished at or below par four out of his last six rounds of play. He eyes to do more of the same and is scheduled to tee off tomorrow at 8:10 a.m.
Lane matched Tamardi last week at Grandover with a 7th place finish of his own, the 11th top 10 finish of his career. He also possess an under-par round average for the fall at 71. Lane will tee off at 8 a.m.
In a top 25 finish, Lukes ranked second among all golfers at last week on par 3's with a cumulative score of 1-under, averaging a 2.92. He is scheduled to tee off tomorrow at 7:50 a.m.
Gunnell caught fire last week as well connecting on six birdies sparking the third and final round push. For the Grandover Collegiate, he tallied nine birdies, his most hus far for the fall campaign. Gunnell will tee off at 7:40 a.m.
Beam will be competing in just his second tournament event of his collegiate career this week. He led the team in made pars last week with 35. Beam is set to pull out the driver at 7:30 a.m.
Stats from the Kiawah Classic will be presented via Golfstat.com. Follow @appstategolf, the official App State Men's golf Twitter account, for complete tournament updates.
