Pirates Open Spring Season on Sunday

PALM CITY, FLA. - The Seton Hall men's golf team will begin tournament play this Spring with three rounds of golf at the UNCG Martin Downs Collegiate, Feb. 10-12, at Osprey Creek Golf Course.

Tournament Details:
UNCG / MARTIN DOWNS COLLEGIATE
Host: University of North Carolina - Greensboro
Location: Palm City, Fla.
Course: Osprey Creek Golf Course
Course Vitals: Par-72, 6,802 yards
Dates: February 10-12, 2019, Three Rounds

The Course:
Osprey Creek at Martin Downs Golf Club has been a site for the PGA Tour Qualifying School and U. S. Open Qualifying. The course offers a world class, full service golf experience including a fully stocked Pro Shop, complete club repair, golf instruction, and a full schedule of fun, social and competitive events.

The Osprey Creek Course provides a challenging test to golfers of all skill levels. Built in 1981, the course plays longer than its 7,000 yards from the back tees due to prevailing easterly wind. With greens that roll fast and true with five sets of tees, Osprey Creek will not disappoint any golfer of any ability.

The Field:
In addition to Seton Hall and UNC-Greensboro, the field includes 11 other schools: Appalachian State, Boston College, James Madison, Mercer, Lehigh, Purdue-Fort Wayne, Samford, South Dakota, Tennessee-Chattanooga, VCU and BIG EAST foe Villanova.

The Seton Hall Lineup:

Chris Yeom, Senior
Gen Nagai, Senior
Deven Ramachandran, Freshman
Andres Acevedo, Sophomore
Gregor Tait, Sophomore

Individual – Alex Chalk, Junior
Individual – Peter Tyler Po, Freshman

Last Time at this tournament:
Just last year, Gregor Tait (Martlesham Heath, England) shot a 1-under-par, 71, in the final round to claim the individual championship of the 2018 UNCG / Martin Downs Collegiate. Despite a record-tying team effort, the Pirates finished second in the team standings.

Tait was dominant, shooting under par in all three rounds to win his first collegiate individual championship in only his sixth career tournament. For the tournament, Tait shot a 9-under-par, 67-69-71-207, to best West Virginia's Matthew Sharpstene by two strokes for the title. His 9-under-par score tied for the third-most strokes under par in a tournament in Pirate history. Furthermore, Tait's 207 toed for the second-lowest tournament par-72 score ever at Seton Hall.

Collectively, Seton Hall sparkled on the course again in round three, finishing with a 3-under-par, 285. However, the Pirates were caught by West Virginia, which shot a spectacular 12-under-par, 276, in Tuesday's final round to claim the team title by two strokes over The Hall. The Pirates finished in second place, two strokes ahead of host UNC-Greensboro and six strokes ahead of Elon.

Despite falling short, Seton Hall's three-day effort was historic. It finished with an 11-under-par, 287-281-285-853, which broke the record for the lowest par-72, three-round score in Pirate history. The Hall's 11-under-par score tied for the most strokes under par ever at Seton Hall.

Last Time Out:
For a second straight round, four Pirates shot 2-over-par or lower, led by freshman Deven Ramachandran's (San Rafael, Calif.) even-under-par, 71, as the Pirates vaulted up the team leader board to finish second at the Georgetown Intercollegiate to close out the fall season.

Ramachandran had a second consecutive strong round, finishing his round with two birdies and 12 straight pars. The impressive freshman finished the tournament tied for 22^nd overall with a 6-over-par, 78-70-71-219.

Collectively, the Pirates had the best final round of the field, shooting a 4-over-par, 288. The Hall entered the day in fourth place, but its third round performance allowed it to jump over two BIG EAST opponents to finish second for the three-round event. The Pirates ended the tournament with a 10-over-par, 290-284-288-862, just six strokes behind team champion, Princeton. BIG EAST foes Georgetown and Butler finished six and nine strokes behind the Pirates respectively.

Tee Times:
The field will play one round each day with tee times starting at 7:30 a.m. The Pirates will be paired with golfers from Villanova, VCU and South Dakota and will begin off the 10^th tee.

Results:
Live scoring will be available for the tournament via Golfstat. Complete results will also be available following each day's competition at SHUpirates.com.