University of Memphis
The American Athletic Conference Championship
American Championship Next for Tiger Golf
Apr 24, 2015 | Men's Golf
Men's championship set for Ranch Course at Black Diamond golf community
Off the first tee box at Black Diamond Sunday, Memphis will look to get off to a solid start as the Tigers begin play in the American Athletic Conference Championship. The 54-hole tournament is being played on the Tom Fazio-designed Ranch Course at the golf community located in Lecanto, Fla., located northwest of Orlando on Florida's Gulf Coast.
Memphis is coming off a sixth-place finish at the Mississippi State-hosted Old Waverly Collegiate Championship two weeks ago. The Tigers were in 12th place midway through the first round and ninth after 36 holes before climbing the leaderboard on the final day.
Memphis carded a 286 (-2) for its final round, tying for the second-lowest score of the round.
"Getting off to slow starts has been a theme for us, which is tough, but our guys have done a good job of showing resiliency and bouncing back," said Blake Smart who is wrapping up his first season as Memphis' head coach. "Going into conference we need to have a good start if we are going to have a good event."
Thomas Perrot leads the Tigers with a 73.27 strokes per round average. Late last month he posted a top-10 finish with a one-over par 217 at the UALR/First Tee Collegiate. The junior from Paris began the spring season tying for fourth at the Mobile Sports Authority Intercollegiate.
Fifth-year senior Cory Gaylord is the only Tiger to play in all 10 regular season tournaments and has a 73.55 strokes per round average. The Germantown native began the spring with a ninth-place finish at the Mobile Sports Authority Intercollegiate and also had a top-10 finish during the fall season.
Sophomore Lars Van Meijel is averaging 73.78 strokes per round. He tied for fifth at the UALR/First Tee Collegiate and also posted a top-10 finish during the fall at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate.
Rounding out the Tigers' five player team for the American's championship event will be sophomore Eithel McGowen and freshman Ben Pearson.
While the Quarry Course at Black Diamond may be more well known in golf circles, the Ranch Course, which will serve as the American Championship site is a favorite of the club's members with its lush fairways, rolling meadows and strands of oak and pine. Fazio has said the 16th, 17th and 18th holes represent the three best finishing holes he has ever designed. The format for the tournament is three, 18-hole rounds played Monday through Tuesday.
"We are in a position where it is nothing but an opportunity. We don't have anything to protect. The conference is really good at the top end. USF is a top-20 team, Houston is really solid and SMU returns basically its entire team from match play last year. "
Ranked No. 18 in this week's Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll and located just south of the championship site, USF enters weekend as the tournament favorite. Houston is ninth in head-to-head competition while SMU is 20th.
Players Mentioned
