Monday, April 22
McKinney, Texas (Stonebridge Ranch C.C.)
Stephen F. Austin
at
Southland Conference Championship
Photo by: SFA Athletics
Men’s Golf Begins 2019 Southland Championship Play Monday
4/21/2019 5:44:00 PM | Men's Golf
‘Jacks enter 11-team conference championship tournament as No. 4 seed, seek first Southland title since 1999
Live Scoring | First Round Tee Times | Championship Central
Southland Team Rankings | Southland Player Rankings
Southland Team Rankings | Southland Player Rankings
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – After wrapping up its 2018-19 regular season two weeks ago in Arizona, the SFA men's golf team begins its quest for a Southland Conference championship this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2019 Southland Men's Golf Championship. Held Monday-Wednesday, April 22-24 at the Stonebridge Ranch Country Club's Dye Course, the three-day, 54-hole championship tournament, which is in its 55th year of existence, will determine the league's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship.
The Format
Each day of play will feature one 18-hole round with tee times beginning at 7:30 a.m. off of hole one all three days of the championship. The 2019 Southland Men's Golf champion will be crowned Wednesday, April 24 following the third and final round.
The Course
For the eighth-straight year, the Southland Men's Golf Championship will take place at the Stonebridge Ranch Country Club in McKinney as the Dye Course plays as a par-72 and is comprised of 7,219 yards of fairways and greens. Designed by Pete Dye, the course features 151 yards of slope with Tifway 419 Bermuda grass on the fairways and MiniVerde Ultra Dwarf Bermuda on the greens. Opened in 1988, the course was recently named in a "Best of Private Clubs" article in Avid Golfer in 2017 as Best Course to Test Your Game. With a picturesque landscape, the Stonebridge Ranch's Dye Course offers challenging play with the renewing qualities of the beauty that surrounds it. Stonebridge Ranch Country Club was recently named one of the best country clubs and best value country clubs in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex by Avid Golfer in 2019.
The Tournament Field
All 11 Southland men's golf programs will be vying for a league championship this week with the Lumberjacks entering the tournament as the No. 4 seed. With seeding for the Southland Championship determined by current Golfstat national rankings, SFA is No. 158 among all Division I golf programs in the country. Defending Southland champion Sam Houston state will be the tournament's top seed with a nationally ranking of 91, while Lamar (118) is the No. 2 seed and McNeese (129) the No. 3 seed. Abilene Christian (183) is seeded fifth, followed by Houston Baptist (208) sixth, the University of the Incarnate Word (218) seventh, Nicholls (221) eighth, Central Arkansas (222) ninth, Southeastern Louisiana (225) 10th and New Orleans (230) 11th.
The Lineup
The top of the Lumberjacks' lineup remains unchanged with seniors Angelo Leyvani and Jake Hendrix leading SFA's five-man lineup, followed by sophomore Steven Fabik. Freshmen Johannes Gudmundsson and Isiah Henderson round out the 'Jacks with the two also competing at Stonebridge Ranch. Leyvani enters the Southland Championship ranked third among all league golfers with a 71.76 scoring average on the season. Hendrix is also among the top 10 at No. 8 with a 73.00 scoring average in 2018-19, while Fabik enters the Southland tournament 30th with a 73.86 scoring mark and Henderson 44th with a 75.70 per round average.
Tee Times
Paired with fifth-seeded ACU and sixth-seeded Houston Baptist, SFA will tee off Monday's opening round at 9 a.m. Henderson will tee off first right at 9 a.m. with Gudmundsson beginning at 9:09 a.m., followed by Fabik starting at 9:18 a.m., Hendrix at 9:27 a.m. and Leyvani at 9:36 a.m.
Last Time on the Links
Two weeks ago, the 'Jacks fired their third-lowest three-round score of the season at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic in Chandler, Arizona. Playing in the state of Arizona for the first time in program history, SFA carded a 1-over 865 for the 54 holes and finished eighth among a highly-competitive 20-team field that included four of the nation's top 80 teams according to Golfstat rankings. Fabik posted his first top-10 finish of the season with a career-low score of 7-under 209, tying for sixth among 119 total golfers. Coming off of his first top-place finish of his career at the Bearkat Invitational the first week of April, Leyvani earned his second-straight top-25 finish by tying for 25th with a 2-under 214. Hendrix tied for 60th after carding a 5-over 221 for the three rounds.
'Jacks at the Southland Championship
A year ago, the 'Jacks left the 2018 Southland Men's Golf Championship with a third-place showing after tying the second-lowest score of the day in the final round of the league championship (20-over 308). Battling windy and rainy conditions with much cooler temperatures on the last day of play, SFA finished the three-day tournament with a 51-over 915, 27 strokes off of first-place Sam Houston State. Leyvani paced the 'Jacks and shone during the third round, shooting the second-lowest score of the day at even-par 72 and rising an impressive 13 spots on the leaderboard. He completed the championship with a final score of 7-over 223 to tie for fifth, just seven strokes from the individual title. No SFA golfer finished lower than 26th among the 55-competitor field as Fabik tied for 15th with a three-day tally of 14-over 230 and Hendrix 25th with a three-round score of 21-over 237. The 'Jacks have finished among the top five at the Southland Championship seven times in the last 10 years. SFA took home runner-up honors at the 2017 Southland Men's Golf Championship, representing the Lumberjacks' highest placement at the conference tournament since winning its third Southland title in 1999. In 2016, the 'Jacks placed fifth after finishing seventh in 2015, tying for third in 2014 and claiming a fourth-place finish among eight teams in 2013.
Up Next…
Round two of the 2019 Southland Men's Golf Championship will get underway at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday with tee times determined by each team's standing in the tournament field.
Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Lumberjack golf throughout the spring.
-SFA-
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
/ Men's Golf
1.29.24 | Axe 'Em Insider Ep. 23 x Golf
Monday, January 29
