George Washington University Athletics
GW Golf to Compete in Atlantic 10 Championship
4/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Live Scoring | Follow @GW_Golf | A-10 Championship Central | Grand Cyprus GC
THIS WEEK: GW golf heads to Orlando, Fla., to compete for the Atlantic 10 Championship at Grand Cyprus Golf Club from April 29-May 1.
FORMAT: The 54-hole tournament features 18 holes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tee times begin at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, with GW set to head out at 9:00 along with VCU and Dayton. Saturday and Sunday's tee times vary depending on score, with each day's play beginning at 7:30.
HOW TO FOLLOW: Live scoring will be available through golfstat.com and Atlantic10.com and updates will be posted throughout the tournament on @GW_Golf.
TEEING OFF: Playing for GW will be freshman Logan Lowe, sophomores Christian Cichan, Vince Palazzolo and Jack Porcelli, and junior Lucas Farmer. The only player among the GW contingent with A-10 Championship experience, Farmer has fared well in each of his previous appearances with a 12th place finish as a rookie and a T-26th finish last season. "When we've been loose, we've played some good golf this year," said head coach Chuck Scheinost. "That's our key going forward. I don't think it matters having a younger team that doesn't have A-10 experience, because we've played great tournaments with elite competition to get us ready for this."
Lowe leads GW in scoring (73.13) and rounds of par or better (10), and has racked up a number of accolades in his debut season. The native of Grass Valley, Calif., is a four-time A-10 Rookie of the Week award winner, and on Tuesday was named GW Athletics' Rookie of the Year and Team MVP at the Georgeys. This spring, Lowe has been at his best, registering a 72.36 scoring average in 11 rounds and placing as the top Colonial in three of the last four tournaments. "I would love to see Logan finish as the top rookie to get Rookie of the Year and contend this weekend," said Scheinost. "Most importantly, I want to see him stay patient for an entire tournament for the first time this season. If he can stay patient, I think he puts himself in a position to win."
Cichan, playing his first season for GW after transferring from Purdue, ranks second on the team in scoring average at 74.17. Farmer is the most experienced player on GW's roster with 84 rounds to his name and a career scoring average of 77.01. This season, he ranks third on the team with a 75.57 average. Porcelli (75.67) and Palazzolo (76.25) rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in scoring average.
THE FIELD: The 11-team field is led by VCU, which is the two-time defending champion and won the A-10 Match Play Championship in February. The Rams outpaced Richmond each of the last two A-10 Championships, winning by 13 strokes last year and a single stroke in 2014. In addition to VCU and Richmond, the field is comprised of Davidson, Dayton, Fordham, George Mason, La Salle, Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure and St. Joseph's.
GW AT THE A-10 CHAMPIONSHIP: The Colonials won their lone A-10 Championship in 2012 at the Heron Bay Golf Club in Coral Springs, Fla., after shooting an 8-under 568 in the rain-shortened 36-hole event, to automatically qualify for the NCAA Tournament. GW finished sixth in 2013, third in 2014 and ninth last season. Senior Jack Persons was the top finisher for the Colonials last year, taking fourth place with a 4-under 212 to repeat as an All-Conference selection.
GW AT THE A-10 MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP: The Colonials competed in the first-ever A-10 Match Play Championship in February and won 11 of their final 12 matches to win the consolation final. Farmer went a perfect 3-0 in the event and GW responded after an opening-round loss to Davidson with victories over St. Joseph's and La Salle.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: "I think if we can get ourselves into a position of being loose, and put ourselves in position where we trust our process, we trust what we're doing, and we just make free swings, which we've done multiple times in the second and third rounds this year; if we can do that from the start, good things can happen. We've been tinkering with a new practice strategy to help with that the last few weeks, and we've seen good results from it."
Players Mentioned
