Fighting hole to hole until darkness against one of the nation's top golf programs, the Georgia State men's golf team is down three matches to two against sixth-ranked Florida State in the team's second match of the Callaway Match Play Championships at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro.
After falling to second-ranked Alabama, the Panthers lead two matches against the seventh-seeded Seminoles in the team's first contest of the consolation bracket.
Sophomore Tom Sherreard and freshman Alan Fowler currently hold leads over Florida State's Drew Kittleson and Bradely Ruch. Sherreard holds a two-hole advantage through 14 holes, while Fowler leads by three holes through 15.
Georgia State led early in the contest as junior Tim Freund and sophomore Maurice Jordan jumped ahead of Florida State's highly touted Joans Blixt, who ranks fifth in the nation individually, and Matthew Savage, ranked 12th, in matches one and two respectively. However, each Seminole reclaimed the advantage as Blixt leads by two holes and Savage leads by three through 14 holes of play.
In the closest match, Florida State's Seth Lauer leads anther freshman Alex Castro by one hole through 14 holes in match four.
“We're in a dog fight,” said Georgia State head golf coach Matt Clark. “We were up early, but they have the lead and we're waiting to see how it goes in the morning. This is a big match against a very good team, but we're playing much better than this morning when we struggled a bit. We're going to get some rest and come out tomorrow and try to play even better.”
Georgia State is playing without senior Joel Sjoholm, the seventh-ranked player nationally, in an event where the format varies from the typical college tournament where teams count the best four of five scores from each day count on a stroke basis. Instead, the Championship matches each team's players in head-to-head competition on each hole, with the winner of more holes winning the match.
The Panthers, the event's 15th seed, dropped their first match at Reynolds, a par-72, 7,299-yard course to second-seeded Alabama 4-0-1.
The Callaway Match Play Championships feature 16 teams that finished in the top 17 at the NCAA Nationals last year.
Live scoring of tomorrow's action can be found at GolfState.com and updates will be posted to GeorgiaStateSports.com following each match.
Georgia State vs. Florida State Results
1. Tim Freund vs. Jonas Blixt ? Blixt, Florida State, 2 up thru 14
2. Maurice Jordan vs. Matthew Savage - Savage, Florida State, 3 up thru 14
3. Tom Sherreard vs. Drew Kittleson ? Sherreard, Georgia State, 2 up thru 14
4. Alex Castro vs. Seth Lauer ? Lauer, Florida State, 1 up thru 14
5. Alan Fowler vs. Bradley Ruch ? Fowler, Georgia State, 3 up thru 15
