Oct. 30, 2011

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Samford University men's golf team will be participating in its final tournament of the 2011 fall season this week as the Bulldogs travel to North Carolina for the Hummingbird Intercollegiate hosted by Western Carolina University at the Country Club of Sapphire Valley.

For the fifth-consecutive year - and the sixth time overall - Western Carolina University and the Country Club of Sapphire Valley are scheduled to host the 2011 Hummingbird Intercollegiate. The 2011 installment of the event gets underway with a two-round, 36-hole event slated for Monday and Tuesday.

Groups will tee off on both the front and back nines with front nine tee times beginning at 8 a.m. (CDT) with the back nine starting at 8:05 a.m. A total of five players will compete for each team with the best scores of the top four counting each day.

Fans can follow all of the action from the 2011 Hummingbird Intercollegiate with live scoring through www.GolfStatResults.com.

A combined 17 teams and seven individual players representing eight states will comprise the 92-golfer field all vying for both the team and individual titles at the 2011 Hummingbird Intercollegiate. In addition to Samford, five other Southern Conference schools return to the southern mountains of Western North Carolina in Appalachian State, Elon, Furman, Western Carolina and Wofford.

Defending team champion, Jacksonville, and three-time runner-up, Vanderbilt, headline the list of schools traveling to Sapphire for the tournament. Others include Colgate, Francis Marion, Gardner-Webb, Guilford, High Point, IPFW, Radford, Tennessee Tech and UAB to round out the competing teams.

Ten of the teams in the field are ranked inside the national top 200, including three inside the top 100 according to GolfStat, with one team - Guilford College - ranking as the No. 1 team in NCAA Division III. The Quakers have won two of their three fall tournaments and are led by junior Noah Ratner who has captured individual medalist honors three times and is averaging 69.75 in eight rounds.

UAB enters the event ranked 19th with Vanderbilt (87th) and Furman (99th) representing the teams inside the national top 100.

Last season, Jacksonville carded the third-lowest, 36-hole team score in tournament history to rally from third place to win the event. The Dolphins carded a two-day, two-round score of 563 to defeat third-time runner-up, Vanderbilt, by six strokes.

The Country Club of Sapphire Valley is a private, member-owned club that features a valley golf course, plush clubhouse, state-of-the-art fitness center and tennis center. The course, which plays at par-71 and 6,767 yards, meanders through the backdrop of a mature hardwood forest and scenic mountains that provide for breath taking views and a natural setting.

The course, which sits on a level valley floor despite its mountainous surroundings, was originally designed by George Cobb and was updated by Bill Bergin. The peaks of the southern Appalachian Mountains and the fall foliage colors provide a magnificent setting for the final team tournament of the season for the Samford men's golf team.

In their most recent outing, the Bulldogs placed third out of 16 teams at the 2011 F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate. Samford finished the two-day, 54-hole competition with a total team score of 14-under-par 850 (284-277-289).

Junior Drew Aimone earned runner-up accolades after completing the tournament with an 8-under-par 208 (67-68-73). He finished the third round tied for the individual lead with Austin Peay's Marco Iten and the duo subsequently squared off in a two-hole playoff on holes No. 10 and 11.

As a team, Samford finished third in the 16-team tournament, just two strokes behind second-place Jacksonville State (282-282-284=848). Austin Peay, the host school for this week's tournament, earned the championship title with a final score of 839 (279-281-279).

The Bulldogs concluded the 2011 F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate with two players in the top 10. Aimone finished second out of the 93 participants, while junior Casey O'Toole placed sixth with a final 54-hole score of 211 (72-70-69).

Samford's Bill Nabors and Gabe Hyde both finished the tournament with identical three-round scores of 216. In the final round of action, Nabors and Hyde both carded scored of 2-over-par 74.

Also in the final round of competition, the Bulldogs' sophomore William Catanzaro turned in his best round of the tournament with a 1-over-par 73. Samford's native of Gadsden, Ala., completed the competition with a 54-hole score of 222 (75-74-73).

The Samford University men's golf team will begin play in the 2011 Hummingbird Intercollegiate at 8 a.m. (CDT) Friday as the Bulldogs start competing in the opening round of action being held at the Country Club of Sapphire Valley in Cullowhee, N.C.