Pine Mountain, Ga.?Freshman Allen John captured the individual medal, but the Georgia State men's golf team fell on the first playoff hole to VCU at the CAA Golf Championships Sunday on the Callaway Gardens Mountain View Course in Pine Mountain, Ga.

With the win, VCU earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Regionals, while Georgia State, ranked 57th nationally, must await the at-large selections to be announced in just over two weeks.

Georgia State entered Sunday's final round eight shots ahead of James Madison and 12 strokes better than VCU, but the Rams posted a two-under-par 291 on the final day to force the playoff.

On the first playoff hole, Rafael Campos and Mark Jargren birdied for the Rams to give VCU the title.

John, the freshman from Mannheim, Germany, fired a 65 on Saturday to take command of the individual leaderboard. He came back to the field after shooting a 76 Sunday, but still won by two shots over Eric Onesi of Old Dominion.

John, who sank a six-foot par putt on the 18th green to ensure the playoff, is the second straight Panther to capture the CAA individual title and third in the four years that Georgia State has been in the league. He follows Joel Sjoholm (2008) and Mark Haastrup (2006) as a CAA champions, as well as conference champion Allen Thompson (2001 TAAC).

The Panthers carded a 10-over-par total of 298 for Sunday's round. Tobias Rosendahl turned in Georgia State's low round of the day with an even-par 72, despite battling a back injury.

Allen Fowler posted a 74 for the Panthers, followed by John and Tom Sherreard at 76 and Brent Paul with a 77.

“Congratulations to VCU; they played great today,” said Georgia State head coach Joe Inman. “We played beautifully the first day, but we just did not perform well the last two days. We let everybody back into the tournament when we should have put it away.”

--30--