The Georgia Southern Eagles won the Schenkel Invitational for just the second time in the event’s 40-year history, taking the title this past weekend at Forest Heights CC in Statesboro.
The Eagles were led by senior Steven Fisk of Stockbridge, who earned medalist honors for the fifth time this season and eighth in his career.
Georgia Southern was in third place coming into the final round, five strokes behind leader East Tennessee State and two in back of Notre Dame. Led by Fisk and Brett Barron, a junior from Cumming, the Eagles matched a tournament record with a 20-under 268 score the final day to win by 13 shots over East Tennessee and Notre Dame. Mississippi State was fourth, 24 strokes behind Georgia Southern’s winning total.
The Eagles were sixth after the first round of play, seven strokes off the lead at 290. The team matched the low score of the second round (280) to move up to third before roaring past East Tennessee and Notre Dame in the final round. The team’s closing score of 268 was the low total for the day by 17 strokes.
In the 40 years the Eagles have hosted the Schenkel, the only previous time they won the team title was in 2014, when St. Simons’ Scott Wolfes led them to victory, taking medalist honors for just the third time by a Georgia Southern golfer.
After posting scores of 70 and 67 the first two days, Fisk held a slim 1-stroke lead going to the final round in the competition for individual honors. He birdied seven of the first 12 holes in the third round and was 8-under after 16 before suffering his lone bogey of the day at the 17th. He finished with a 65 and a 14-under 202 total for the tournament.
Barron also closed with a 65 to finish third in at 209. He shot 73-71 the first two days, and pulled even with Fisk in the final round when he scored his seventh birdie of the day on the 17th.
Ben Carr, a freshman from Columbus, placed fourth at 211 with scores of 72-70-69. Jake Maples, a junior from McDonough, bounced back from a poor first round to close with scores of 72-69 to tie for 28th at 220. Jacob Bayer, a sophomore from Lawrenceville, competed as an individual and also tied for 28th at 220.
With his eighth career victory, Fisk matches the school record total set by former PGA Tour player Jodie Mudd. Fisk also pulled even with Oklahoma State’s Matthew Wolff, the top-ranked college player in the country, with five wins on the season.