Pirates Battle Tough Field at Hal Williams Collegiate

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Seton Hall men's golf team will wrap up the fall season with three rounds of golf at the 2023 Daniel Island Invitational at the Daniel Island Club Ralston Creek Course, October 29-31.

Tournament Details:
2024 HAL WILLIAMS COLLEGIATE
Host: University of South Alabama
Location: Mobile, Ala.
Course: Magnolia Grove Golf Course
Course Vitals: Par-71, 7,168 yards
Dates: February 12-13, 2024

THE COURSE:
The new Magnolia Grove features two renovated golf courses. Each championship course received extensive upgrades in recent years. Golfers will find more "player friendly" qualities without compromising the integrity of Robert Trent Jones' original design.

Magnolia Grove was recently named one of the "Top 50 Public Courses" by Golf World Magazine readers. The Crossings and Falls courses are also listed in Golf Digest's "Places to Play" as two of the nation's Great Value courses and as "America's Top 50 Affordable Courses." The topography at Magnolia Grove features creeks, marshland, and lakes with each of the 54 holes carved through indigenous hardwood and pine.

THE FIELD:
In addition to Seton Hall and host South Alabama, the highly-competitive field includes 12 other teams including: Davidson, Illinois, Kansas State, Kent State, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, LSU, Memphis, Oral Roberts, Southern Mississippi, Texas State and VCU.

THE FORMAT:
Teams will play five golfers and count the four lowest scores per round.

THE LINEUP:

Wenliang Xie, Graduate
Wanxi Sun, Senior
George Fricker, Junior
Patrick Kahanek, Sophomore
David Lally, Sophomore

LAST TIME OUT:
Last weekend, the Seton Hall men's golf team opened the spring season with a strong showing at the BIG EAST Match Play event at Bear Lakes Country Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. On Monday, The Hall defeated DePaul in its quarterfinal match, 4-2-1, and knocked out Xavier, 5-1-1, in the semifinals. On Tuesday, however, the Pirates fell in the championship match to Connecticut, 4-2-1.

The lone Seton Hall golfer to win all three of his matches was freshman Isaiah Williams (Flemington, N.J.). Wenliang Xie (Zhaoqing, China), David Lally (Wicklow, Ireland) and George Fricker (Woodbridge, England) each won two of their three matches.

LAST TIME AT MAGNOLIA GROVE:
Wenliang Xie (Zhaoqing, China) fired a 1-under-par, 70, in the final round to lift the Seton Hall men's golf team to a strong finish at the Hal Williams Collegiate last spring.

Xie had four birdies and 11 pars in round three and completed the tournament as the top Pirate competitor. For the three-round event, he tied for 22nd among 84 individual golfers with a 1-under-par, 73-69-70-212.

As a team, The Hall shot a 4-over-par, 284, in round three after completing the few remaining holes of the second round. The Pirates finished the second round with a 3-over-par, 287. For the tournament, Seton Hall placed 15th in a highly-talented field with a 19-over-par, 296-287-288-871. Fifth-ranked Illinois won the team title at 36-under-par.

THE SCHEDULE:
The field will play 36 holes on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday. A shotgun start will begin competition in round one at 8:00 a.m. Seton Hall golfers will be paired with golfers from Davidson College and two additional individuals from other schools that will not contribute to their teams scores. The shotgun will sound at 8:30 a.m. for Tuesday's final round.

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