ATLANTA, G.A. – Georgia State junior J.J. Grey shot a 4-under, 140 to win the one-day, 36-hole Southern Intercollegiate hosted by Georgia and GRU-Augusta on Monday, March 16th, at Athens Country Club in Athens, G.A. Grey led the Panthers to a second-place finish, giving Georgia State back-to-back top-three finishes.
One of the oldest tournaments in the country, the Southern Intercollegiate has been won by a who’s who in golf, including Arnold Palmer while a member of the Wake Forest golf team.
Following an opening round 72, Grey shot 68 in the afternoon, making eight birdies during his round, including a stretch of four-straight on the front nine. It was his second-straight top-two finish as he finished at 4-under.
“I’m really happy with the way the entire team played,” head coach Joe Inman said. “We took the momentum we built last week and continued it today. J.J. played really well and I was glad to see him earn another victory. Hopefully we can continue that momentum into the Linger Longer Invitational this weekend.”
Senior Davin White and sophomore Nathan Mallonee shot rounds of 73-75 to finish tied for 19th at 4-over par, while freshman Max Herrmann added a pair of 76’s to tie for 34th.
Freshman Alexander Herrmann rounded out the starting line-up with back-to-back rounds of 78 to tie for 50th.
Senior Damon Stephenson, competing as an individual, shot 76-70 to tie for 12th, while senior Gus Wagoner shot 76-80 to tie for 50th. Freshman Hayden Poole rounded out the Panthers in the field shooting 85-83 to tie for 73rd.
Host Georgia, ranked 30th by GolfStat, finished the 36-hole event 1-under par for a 13-stroke win over the Panthers at 12-over. GRU-Augusta finished third at 16-over, while Lipscomb finished in fourth at 20-over. Youngstown State rounded out the top-five at 24-over.
Grey finished one stroke ahead of Western Carolina’s J.T. Poston, ranked No. 47 in the country. Lipscomb’s Stoney Crouch finished in third at 2-under. A foursome of Bulldogs finished tied for fourth at 1-under including Zach Healy, Jamie Lopez Rivarola, Sepp Straka and Nicholas Reach, along with GRU-Augusta’s Maverick Antcliff.
Georgia State will return to the course March 20-22, 2015 for the Linger Longer Invitational in Eatonton, Ga. hosted by Mercer.