MACON, GA. – Georgia State shot a final-round 5-over 293 to finish ninth at the seventh annual Brickyard Collegiate Sunday. Annually one of the toughest tournaments in the southeast, the field featured six teams in the top-30 in the country.
Junior Davin White shot his second consecutive 2-under 70 to finish at 4-under and in a tie for 12th. White has finished in the top-12 in three of his last four tournaments dating back to last year.
With the help of shooting its lowest-round in a nearly a year on Saturday, Georgia State finished the 54-hole event at 6-over.
“Although we would have liked to finish a few spots higher, I think we have a lot of our confidence back after a rough start to the season,” head coach Joe Inman said. “We played with some of the best teams in the country and now understand where we are. We have a little bit of work to do, but are not far off.
“We now turn our attention to our home tournament. Just like Mercer did this week, we need to take advantage of our home course knowledge and put together an impressive performance next week.”
White's round included five birdies, including three-straight over the final three holes. He made 13 birdies in the tournament.
Sophomore Jonathan “J.J.” Grey shot a final round 2-over 74 to finish tied for 22nd at even par. Grey, who won the event last year, made four birdies in the final round, but two double bogeys derailed what could have been a third-straight round of par or better.
Junior Damon Stephenson also shot a final-round 2-over 74 and finished tied for 37th at 5-over par. Among those he was tied with was freshman Nathan Mallonee, who shot a 3-over 75 on Sunday. Mallonee was making his collegiate debut for the Panthers.
Senior Tyler Gruca shot a final-round 5-over 77 and finished 12-over for the event, tied for 68th.
Senior Grant Cagle, competing as an individual, shot a final-round 72 to finish tied for 61st at 10-over par.
Host Mercer put together an impressive 27-under par total to win the event following a final-round 281. Georgia Tech finished second at 25-under, followed by Virginia Tech in third at 15-under. Georgia finished fourth at 11-under, with South Florida finishing in fifth-place at 4-under.
The Panthers were just one-stroke behind GRU-Augusta (formerly Augusta State) and five-strokes behind Florida State and Louisville.
Mercer's Emmanuel Kountakis and Hans Reimers, along with Georgia Tech's Seth Reeves were named co-champions after all finished at 9-under. Georgia Tech's Ollie Schneiderjans and Virginia Tech's Scott Vincent tied for fourth at 8-under.
Georgia State will return to action Oct. 14-15 at the Panther hosted AutoTrader.com Collegiate Classic. The third-year event will take place at Berkeley Hills Country Club in Duluth with teams playing 36 holes on Monday and 18 on Tuesday.
The event is free and open to the public. A college-am benefiting the program will take place on Sunday afternoon. Fans interested in playing can call the golf office or visit the website for more information.
