AMERICUS, Ga. -- The eighth-ranked Georgia Southwestern State University men's golf team earned its third consecutive NCAA South/Southeast Super Regional bid and will be making its seventh appearance overall.

The tournament begins Thursday and will be held at the Grande Oaks Golf Club in Davie, Fla., Nova Southeastern University will serve as the host. The par-71, 6,680 yard Raymond Floyd Golf Course was recently renovated to make use of Celebration grass on the tees and fairways and Tift Eagle grass on the greens. A total of 20 teams representing six conferences will compete to advance to the NCAA Division II Championships, May 22-26 in Warren, Ohio. At minimum, the top three teams move on.  

Georgia Southwestern enters the tournament ranked eighth in the latest Golfstat computer rankings after winning the Peach Belt Championship for the first time in program history back in April. 

The Hurricanes won two events this spring, with the first being the Bobcat Intercollegiate that was hosted by Georgia College and State University. GSW shot a 4-over 564 overall had three golfers finish in the Top 10 and also finished better than three teams ranked in the Top 10 in the Golfstat rankings with one of the teams being fellow PBC member No. 5 North Georgia.

In addition to the two wins the Hurricanes had three Top 5 finishes second at the Spring Kickoff they fired a 2-under 862 overall, had a third place finish at the Hurricane Invitational where they shot an 8-under 856 overall and shot an impressive 10-under in the final round, and a fourth place finish at the Argonaut Invitational shot a 2-over 579 overall.

The Hurricanes boast two players ranked in the Top 100 Golfstat player rankings No. 40 Nicolas Escobar and No. 54 Chase McLain.

Escobar a junior from Guayaquil, Ecuador won his first tournament of the year in the PBC championship and notched his second Top 5 finish of the season Escobar finished leading the event in total pars and was 1-under on the par-3s. Escobar had six Top 10 finishes and two Top 25 finishes. He finished a team best 69 in Round 3 of the Spring Kickoff he birdied three of his last five holes and tied for third in the 95-player field with a 212 overall while shooting 4-under.

McLain a senior from Leesburg, Ga., had four Top 10 finishes and three Top 25 finishes. He was the Hurricanes top performer at the Southeastern Collegiate he led GSW with a 69 in Round 3 birdied two holes on the front nine and five on the back nine he also tied for ninth in the 90-player field with a 3-under 214 overall. McLain finished second on the Hurricanes at the Spring Kickoff he fired a 73 in Round 2, finished 10th after a 70 in round 3. McLain finished the event tied for sixth scoring 2-under.

Erik Fogel led the Hurricanes to victory in the Hurricane Invitational where he shot a 67 in Round 3 and climbed 21 spots on the leaderboard as he birdied three holes on the front nine and four on the back nine. Fogel tied for sixth in the 90-player field with a 3-under 213 overall. Fogel a sophomore from Stockholm, Sweden has seven Top 25 finishes.

Payne Sells a junior from Warner Robins, Ga., shot a 73 in Round 1 and a 69 in Round 2 and finished sixth with a score of 142 at the Argonaut invitational. Sells fired a 1-under in the final round of the Hurricane Invitational and shot at 2-under in the tournament to record a Top 10 finish. In the Bobcat Invitational Sells fired a 2-over par and finished 142 overall which was good enough to earn his second Top 10 finish for the season. He also earned another Top 10 finish at the PBC championship shot a 2-over 218 overall in the 45 player field Sells earned four top-10 finishes on the season. 

Jack Tharrington a junior from Boca Raton, Fla., earned his first Top 10 finish at the Bobcat invitational shot a 2-over 142 overall in the 84 player field. Tharrington earned his second Top 10 finish at the PBC Championship where he finished ninth and fired a 2-over par 218 overall in the 45-player field.

Five teams from the PBC were selected to the NCAA tournament along with the winners from the SAC and the Conference Carolinas.

NCAA Southeast Region:

1. Anderson (South Carolina) [South Atlantic Conference] (1)

2. North Georgia (5)

3. Georgia Southwestern [Peach Belt Conference] (8)

4. Clayton State (12)

5. Lincoln Memorial (14)

6. Barton [Conference Carolinas] (21)

7. Lander (23)

8. Carson-Newman (20)

9. Limestone (22)

10. University of South Carolina Aiken (29)