Twelfth-ranked Utah posted its second straight 277 (-11) and held off a furious late rally from 11th-ranked Florida to take a one-shot victory (842-843) at the 45th playing of the Schenkel Invitational Sunday at Forest Heights Country Club. The host Georgia Southern Eagles shot their third straight under-par team score to finish in third place with a 848 (-16).
Florida's Luke Poulter claimed the title leading from start to finish, draining a birdie on the 54th hole to break a tie and beat teammate Ian Gilligan by one shot. Poulter shot a 67-69-72 (208; -8) to earn medalist honors over Gilligan. Georgia Southern's Parker Claxton and Notre Dame's Jacob Modleski both finished at 6-under par to tie for third. Poulter is the sixth Gator to win the Schenkel, the first since Bank Vongvanij (207, -9) won it in 2011.
Claxton led the way on the final day for Georgia Southern, shooting a 68 (-4) that was highlighted by a pair of eagles and two more birdies. Brantley Baker finished in a tie for 13th after carding a one-under 72 in the final round that included three birdies on the front 9. Hogan Ingram was tied for the lead early in on the back 9 after carding four birdies in his first 11 holes, but settled for a tie for fifth place after shooting an even-par 72 that included five birdies overall. Ingram now has shot four straight rounds at or under par as the Eagles head to the final stretch of the season. Luke Koenig (73) and Brycen Jones (75) rounded out the scoring team for the Eagles. With his 214, he finished in a tie for 13th place.
Playing as an individual, Edouard Cereto shot a 70 with four birdies and an eagle to finish with a 70 in the day, -2 overall and tie for 13th place. Thomas Horne (74) finished in 30th place after carding three birdies and Ian Glanton carded four straight birdies in the final round to shoot a 69 and finish tied for 31st. Pierce Adamson made the turn at 4-under, firing off five birdies in his first nine holes and finished the final round with a 72. Elijah Zamarron had his best round of the event, shooting a 73.
Utah's four scorers all went under par, led by David Johnson's 66 that included six birdies and an eagle. Utah went +1 on the final two holes and Florida went -4 to make things interesting, but the Utes got four pars on the tough 18th hole to hold off the Gators. The one-shot difference between the top two squads marked the first time since 2015 that the final team tally was decided by just one stroke. That year, Auburn (823, -41) edged fellow SEC school Vanderbilt (824, -40).
Among the five scorers, Georgia Southern finished second in the field on the par 4s, playing them at -1 and played the par 5s at -10 for the week. The Eagles were tied for the tournament high with 55 birdies. Ingram played the par 3s at -2, tied for fifth-best in the field. Claxton went -4 on the par 4s, the best in the field, and Jones played them at -1. Adamson went -6 on the par 5s, tied for the third-best score. Jones, Adamson and Ingram all made 13 birdies, tied for the fourth-most in the field and both Cereto and Claxton had a pair of eagles to tie for the tournament high.
Eight participating teams were ranked in the top 100 nationally, according to the latest Clippd rankings. Army West Point, Campbell (#86), Florida (#11), Georgia Southern (#98), Indiana (#70), Kentucky (#89), Maryland, Middle Tennessee, Notre Dame (#38), UAB, Utah (#12), West Virginia (#94), Wisconsin and Yale made up the 14-team field.
Individually, five competitors were ranked in Clippd'd top 100 in Utah's Sergio Jimenez (#24) and Gabriel Palacios (#37), Notre Dame's Jacob Modleski (#18), Florida's Ian Gilligan (#19) and Jack Turner (#23).
Scores
Team – 278-286-284 (-16), 3
Parker Claxton - 69-73-68=210 (-6), T3
Hogan Ingram - 69-70-72=211 (-5), T5
Edouard Cereto* - 71-73-70=214 (-2), T13
Brycen Jones - 70-69-75=214 (-2), T13
Brantley Baker - 70-76-71=217 (+1), T27
Thomas Horne* - 72-72-74=218 (+2), 30
Ian Glanton* - 73-77-69=219 (+3), T31
Pierce Adamson* - 71-76-72=219 (+3), T31
Luke Koenig - 74-74-73=221 (+5), T44
Elijah Zamarron* - 75-79-73=227 (+11), T65
*Playing as individual
Words from Coach Carter Collins
"Lot of gratitude ... the Statesboro community really gave us energy every day. They were electric and pushed. All 12 of us gave everything we had to the Schenkel this week. We played some great golf, but came up just a little bit short. We tip our caps to Utah, who closed just a little bit better than we did. We just have to put ourselves in that position a little more to give us that experience. We're proud of the effort of this team and it shows how well we're playing right now as we headed into the final stretch of the year."
Next up
The Eagles will have four weeks off before hosting the Ford Collegiate at the Ford River and Field Club in Richmond Hill.
