FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 1 Nova Southeastern University men's golf team seeks its second straight victory, both on the season and at Monday and Tuesday's Armstrong Pirates Men's Golf Invitational, at the Savannah Country Club in Pooler, Georgia.
The Sharks are coming off an impressive 10-stroke victory at the Matlock Collegiate Classic, shooting the best team score in all three rounds and setting a new program record for score to par at 26-under.That came against a field that included five other teams ranked in the top 10 by either the GCAA or by Golfstat: Barry, USC-Aiken, Lynn, Columbus State and Saint Leo.
Starting Monday, in a 15-team field, there will be seven top-10 squads competing in the Pirate Invitational in addition to the Sharks: Lynn again, now ranked No. 4/No.6; CSU-Monterey Bay, No.6/No. 11; North Alabama, No. 8/No. 13; West Georgia, No. 9/No.5; Florida Southern, No. 10 in both; and No. 14/No. 9 Saint Leo.
The remainder of the teams competing are No. 16/No. 17 Flagler, Georgia College (No. 25 in GCAA), Lander (No. 25 in Golfstat), Armstrong State, Clayton State, Coker, North Georgia and Wingate.
Last year, NSU topped the hosts by one stroke, led by departed senior Mitch Farrer and current junior
Hunter O'Mahony (Jupiter, Fla.), each in third.
Santiago Gomez (Jr., Armenia, Colombia) finished 12th. In addition, the team played on the same course last season at the NCAA South/Southeast Regional, finishing second as a team and seeing Gomez place third and
Oscar Lengdèn (S
r., Helsingborg, Sweden) tie for 10th.
Two weeks ago at the Matlock, the top Shark individuals were
Richard Mansell (So., Staffordshire, England) in second, Gomez in third and
Priyanshu Singh (Fr., Delhi, India) in eighth. All five Sharks placed in the top 20.
The quintet for the team at Savannah Quarters, which will run par-72, 7,016 yards, will tee off on the first three holes Monday. It's a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m., with Gomez and Mansell going off on Hole No. 1,
Ethan Marcus (Fr., Boca Raton, Fla.) and Singh on No. 2, and O'Mahony on No. 3. The tournament is scheduled for 36 holes Monday and the final 18 on Tuesday, but the area is expecting patches of inclement weather. Stay tuned for updates here and on Twitter either @NSUSharks or @NSUSharksGolf.
