NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State men's golf team will be competing in its second tournament of the spring season beginning Saturday at Florida State's Seminole Intercollegiate. The tournament will run February 24-25 at the par-72, 7,172-yard Southwood Golf Club in Tallahassee, Florida.
The tournament features a 54-hole stroke-play format, with 18 holes being played each day. Play starts Saturday at 8:30 a.m., with threesomes teeing off on holes one and 10. Sunday's final round begins with an 8 a.m. shotgun start. Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament at GolfStat.com.
Fourteen teams will be competing in the tournament, five are currently ranked in the top 100. Joining the Redbirds are Arkansas State, Cincinnati, Jacksonville, James Madison, Kansas State, Nicholls State, Southern Illinois, Troy, West Virginia, Western Carolina, Western Kentucky, Winthrop and host Florida State.
Teams are constructed with five student-athletes, and only the top-four scores count towards the school's overall total in each round. The Redbirds finished in 13th place in last year's Seminole Intercollegiate Tournament with a three-round total of 877 (294-294-289). Penn State won the tournament followed by host Florida State and Georgia Tech.
Illinois State will be represented by senior Zach Burry, junior Trent Wallace, sophomore David Perkins, junior David Rauer and senior Jason Marrs.
" We'll need to be in good form both physically and mentally because the field is very solid from top to bottom," head coach Ray Kralis said. " I am very encouraged by our play during the last two outings at South Alabama and the Tinervin Cup, so I feel like we are going into this one with some positive momentum and confidence in one another. I also like where we are headed with our mental preparation which is so critical in this sport. We'll gain some valuable feedback this week and learn a little more about ourselves which will benefit us going forward."
LAST TIME OUT
Perkins led the Redbirds two weeks ago at South Alabama's Mobile Sports Authority Intercollegiate in Mobile, Alabama, as he finished in a 12th-place tie on the individual leaderboard with an even-par 216 (76-71-69). Wallace finished in a 18th-place tie on the individual leaderboard with a total score of 1-over-par 217 (71-73-73).
Burry fired an impressive 2-under-par 70 (34-36) in the final round, including 13 birdies throughout the tournament. Burry and Rauer both finished with a three-round total of 2-over-par 218, good enough for a 20th-place tie on the individual leaderboard.
UP NEXT
Illinois State will continue its spring break trip March 12-14 at Oral Roberts' Bob Sutton Invitational at the TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas in Dallas, Texas.
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