April 10, 2011

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - In its final tournament before the all-important 2011 Southern Conference Championship, the Samford University men's golf team will compete in the 23rd Annual Coca-Cola Wofford Invitational being held at The Country Club of Spartanburg, a par-72 6,648 yard course.

Play in the two-day, three-round competition is slated to begin Monday at 8:30 a.m. (CDT) with a shotgun start. The first two rounds of the tournament will be played Monday with the final 18 holes of competition to be held Tuesday.

The field of the 23rd Annual Coca-Cola Wofford Invitational will feature 15 schools -- Samford, Appalachian State, Charleston Southern, Campbell, Elon, East Tennessee State, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Longwood, Presbyterian, Radford, Richmond, Stetson, USC Upstate and host Wofford.

East Tennessee State returns for the school's fourth appearance in the tournament and as defending champions. Last year, the Bucs shot a 285-277-285 = 847 (-17) to win the team award. East Tennessee State's Michael Stewart won the individual side with a 72-66-71 = 209 (-7). The team's 17-under-par performance was a tournament record and their 847 was also a tournament-record 54-hole round.

USC Upstate, 292-284-286 = 862 (-2), took second place, while Wofford, 287-287-289 = 863 (-1), finished in third place only a stroke behind. Samford earned a ninth-place finish in last season's Coca-Cola Wofford Invitational.

In the Bulldogs' most recent outing this season, Samford placed ninth at the 2011 Jacksonville State University Grub Mart-Young Oil Intercollegiate on March 29 with a final team score of 895 (300-293-302) at the Silver Lakes Golf Club.

Samford entered the final round of competition tied for 10th place in the tournament, but fired a third-round score of 302 to improve to ninth place. The Bulldogs' best round of the two-day competition occurred March 28 as they registered a team score of 293 in the second round of action.

Sophomore Drew Aimone finished the 2011 JSU Grub Mart -Young Oil Intercollegiate tied for 13th place in the individual standings. The Bulldogs' native of Savannah, Ga., concluded the 54-hole tournament with a 3-over-par 219 (73-71-75). Aimone paced Samford in the competition and turned in a low-round total of 71 on March 28.

Along with Aimone's team-best performance of 219, fellow sophomore Casey O'Toole carded a 54-hole score of 224 (76-75-73) to finish tied for 33rd place. O'Toole, the Bulldogs' native of Oneonta, improved in every round of the tournament and tallied the team's best score March 29 with a 1-over-par 73 as he catapulted Samford to its ninth-place finish.

The Bulldogs' Martin Bunt concluded the tournament with a three-round mark of 226 (76-72-78), while sophomores Bill Nabors and Gabe Hyde rounded out the team's scoring with totals of 230 (75-79-76) and 235 (82-75-78), respectively.

Play in the 23rd Annual Coca-Cola Wofford Invitational will begin at 8:30 a.m. (CDT) with a shotgun start at The Country Club of Spartanburg. Round two is scheduled to commence after lunch. The third round of competition is slated to begin Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.