Fueled by senior Joel Sjoholm's second-round 70 (-2) to climb into third and sophomore Tom Sherreard's hole-in-one, the Georgia State University men's golf team shot a second-round team score of 293 (+5) to rest in fourth after two rounds at the Linger Longer Invitational at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga. on Saturday.

Sjoholm carded seven birdies in an up-and-down first round that allowed the native of Sweden to climb into third from seventh, three strokes off the lead held by Memphis' Robbie Greenwell (136, -8). Sjoholm, the 11th-ranked player in the nation, has a two-round total of 139 (-5).

Meanwhile, Sherreard, who ranks 117th nationally, used a hole-in-one on the par-three 11th hole to leap into the top 10, sitting in a tie for ninth after second-round 72 (E) and a two-round score of 143 (-1).

Sherreard played a six iron to a sloping, elevated green on the 11th, which played at a distance of 185 yards with right-center pin placement. As his shot settled on the left of the green, the ball filtered towards the cup before disappearing from Sherreard's view over a ridge. Hidden from his line-of-sight, Sherreard was certain his ball found the hole when cheers erupted from fans settled green side.

“I watched it filter down, but I couldn't actually see it go in because the green was elevated,” said Sherreard, who carded the ace and one birdie en route to a second-round score of 72. “But, the noise from the fans told me it went in.”

Georgia State head coach Matt Clark enjoyed the moment: “It's not every day you get to coach a hole-in-one,” said Clark. “It was pretty exciting.”

The 70th-ranked Panthers shot a second-round team score of 293 (+5) and sit in fourth with a two-round score of 577 (+1). Georgia State trails leader Mississippi by eight strokes (569, -7) and sit two strokes behind Chattanooga and Georgia who are tied in second (575, -1).

“It was windy and the course was wet, but we fought pretty hard,” said Clark. “We had a chance to make a move late and we kept grinding away. Now, we're only a few strokes behind a couple of those guys. It was a good, solid finish to the day.”

In addition to Sjoholm and Sherreard's performances, junior Tim Freund and freshman Alex Castro each sit in the top 30, at 27th (73-74 ? 147, +3) and in a tie for 28th (71-77 ? 148, +4) respectively. Sophomore Maurice Jordan rests tied for 66th with a two-round total of 157 (76-81, +13), while freshman Alan Fowler finished tied for 58th (76-78 ? 154, +10) as an individual competitor.

Georgia State finished second in the Linger Longer a year ago, with both Sjoholm and Sherreard posting top-20 finishes.

The Linger Longer Invitational features a par-72, 6985-yard layout on Reynolds Plantation's Plantation Course.

The 14-team field at the event includes seven teams ranked in the top 50 nationally, 12 teams from the top 100 and four teams from the state of Georgia. Georgia State currently leads Kennesaw State (T6th, 586, +10) and host Mercer (10th, 596, +20), while trailing the nation's top-ranked team, the University of Georgia, by two strokes.

Third-round action of the Linger Longer Invitational will begin at 8:30 a.m, on Sunday, with Maurice Jordan teeing off first for State in the sixth group at 9:20 a.m.

Updates will be posted to GeorgiaStateSports.com following the final round and live scoring can be found at GolfStat.com.


Georgia State Individual Scores
3rd ? SR. Joel Sjoholm ? 69-70 ? 139, -5
T9th ? SO. Tom Sherreard ? 71-72 ? 143, -1
27th ? JR. Tim Freund ? 73-74 ? 147, +3
T29th ? FR. Alex Castro ? 71-77 ? 148, +4
T66th ? SO. Maurice Jordan ? 76-81 ? 157, +13
T58th ? FR. Alan Fowler (Ind.) ? 76-78 ? 154, +10

Team Scores: