LAKE WORTH, Fla. – Once again on the strength of junior Jake Sherwin who posted a career-best 2nd-place finish, the FGCU men's golf team closed the FAU Slomin Autism Championship at The Fountains Country Club in 4th place following a final-round 297 on Sunday.
 
The Eagles were in a five-way tie for 2nd place heading into the final day of action and finished with a three-round 880 total, four shots behind 2nd-place Connecticut. UCF won the 20-team tournament – the largest field FGCU has competed against this year – with an 863 total.
 
Sherwin (Fort Myers, Fla./Evangelical Christian HS) continued his blistering start to the spring season as now seven of his nine rounds the past three weeks have been played at even par or better following an even-par 71 in the final round. His three-round 211 total (70-70-71) was just three shots behind medalist Ryan Stovash from UCF.
 
Sherwin looked poised to post his third under-par round in as many days as he was -2 heading to 17 but bogeyed the final two holes of the day to settle for the 71. His tie for 2nd overall bettered his previous best finish of a tie for 3rd at last year's Talis Park Challenge and also from his freshman year at FAU's event.
 
Sophomore Jordan Miller (Bradenton, Fla./Bradenton Christian HS) finished with FGCU's second-best score for the tournament with a 221 despite a 76 on Sunday in which he recorded just two birdies on holes 10 and 11.
 
Junior Austin Schultz (Lakeland, Fla./Florida Southern College/Lee Virtual Instructional Program) and freshman Anthony Quintessenza (St. Petersburg, Fla./Northside Christian HS) both posted three-round totals of 226 as Shultz carded a 74 in the final round while Quintessenza had a 76. Quintessenza was only 2-over heading to 17, but like Sherwin he struggled coming in with a double bogey on 17 and bogey on 18.
 
Casper Howells (London, England/Bradfield College) closed out the Eagles' scoring for the tournament with a 229 total and final-round 76. Like Quintessenza, he also made a double bogey on the par-4, 387-yard 17th which pushed his scorecard from +3 to +5 for the day.
 
"The team sort of limped in the last few holes, but overall we had a good week," commented FGCU head coach Eric Booker. "Jake continues to play really good golf, and we just need to get some of the other guys to play more consistently."
 
The Eagles were competing in the Slomin Autism Championship for the third-straight year and posted a 7th-place finish last year and a tie for 2nd place two years ago. The teams played the North Course – the longest of three Fountains CC courses at 6,876 yards – as the layout played to a par 71 and is known for its large greens but also abundant water.
 
The 4th-place finish for FGCU matches the team's best of the season and marks its second-straight such showing. The Eagles are in a stretch of four tournaments in a four-week span leading up to the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship Apr. 19-21. The Green and Blue next heads to Texas to compete in the Jim West Intercollegiate hosted by Texas State Apr. 6-7.
 
FGCU Individual Results
T2) Jake Sherwin: 70-70-71: 211
T33) Jordan Miller: 72-73-76: 221
T58) Anthony Quintessenza: 77-73-76: 226
T58) Austin Schultz: 80-72-74: 226
T76) Casper Howells: 76-77-76: 229
 
Complete Field (Golfweek Rankings)
1) #96 UCF: 279-293-291: 863
2) #148 Connecticut: 294-289-293: 876
3) #184 DePaul: 296-292-289: 877
4) #162 FGCU: 295-288-297: 880
T5) #135 Hartford: 293-291-298: 882
T5) #105 Jacksonville State: 299-298-285: 882
T5) #175 Northern Illinois: 291-292-299: 882
T8) #53 East Carolina: 295-288-302: 885
T8) #212 Stetson: 292-298-295: 885
10) #205 Arkansas State: 292-298-296: 886
11) #195 FAU: 293-290-305: 888
T12) #119 Eastern Michigan: 299-296-295: 890
T12) #207 Georgetown: 294-298-298: 890
14) #136 Middle Tennessee State: 307-299-286: 892
15) #154 Xavier: 292-305-297: 894
16) #216 Murray State: 296-308-296: 900
17) #201 Rhode Island: 294-307-301: 902
18) #236 Bethune-Cookman: 303-296-308: 907
19) #242 Morehead State: 306-309-300: 915
20) #191 St. John's: 303-312-308: 923
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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COACH BOOKER
FGCU is led by coach Eric Booker, a member of the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour (formerly the Nationwide Series) for portions of 17 years from 1990-2007. Booker finished in the top-5 three times in tournaments on the PGA Tour and also played in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. He played in 62 career events on the PGA Tour, with his best finish being a tie for 3rd at the 1999 Honda Classic.
 
HELP THE CAUSE
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visitwww.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.