AMERICUS - The Georgia Southwestern men's golf team, ranked 10th in the latest Golf Coaches Association of America NCAA Division II poll, looks to pick up where it left off after having a record-breaking fall season.
GSW lost just one time to a D-II school in five tournaments earlier this year. The Hurricanes were a perfect 10-0 against schools ranked in the top 10 by Golfstat, the official source for college golf statistics. In Golfstat's head-to-head ranking system, comparing how teams fare against other programs participating in similar tournaments, GSW is currently second the country.
The Hurricanes racked up three impressive victories during fall play, culminating with a runner-up finish at their last event, the Laker Collegiate Invitational in late October.
GSW intends to build upon that success this spring.
"It's important to be consistent in our game," said head coach Andrew Danna. "So we try to work on things that will help create a certain amount of consistency that will carry us all the way through the spring on into the postseason.
"Consistency is key in college golf, so if you can do that you'll win and win a lot."
The Hurricanes are led by former PBC Golfer of the Week and 2010 All-Peach Belt Conference selection, senior Craig Gibson, who posted a 72.3 scoring average in the fall. Junior J.P. Griffin, another PBC Golfer of the Week, is right behind with a 72.8 average. The two are ranked third and fourth, respectively, in the conference. Junior Nate Gahman, an All-PBC selection in 2011, is also ranked inside the top 10 in the PBC with a 73.3 average.
"These three coupled with senior Chris Hall, who had quite a few key rounds in the fall, are pretty tough to beat, if you ask me," said Danna. "They all have a tremendous amount of tournament experience, which I think will come in handy later on this spring and on into the regionals, and so on."
The Blue & Gold take to the course on Feb. 17 for the Frito Lay AT&T Intercollegiate, hosted by Jackson State University, at the Dancing Rabbit Golf Club in Philadelphia, Miss. GSW will be the only D-II team in the field, with the rest of the participants being composed of NCAA Division I programs.