HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC – Despite windy conditions during Tuesday's (Feb. 27) final round, Francis Marion University seniors Marc Casullo and Alessandro Caselli both carded 75 scores to help lead the Patriots to a ninth-place final showing at FMU's own 13th-annual Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate Men's Golf Tournament.
The tournament was played on the 6,913-yard, par 72 Wexford Plantation Palmer course. The average score on Tuesday was 78.58.
TCU, led by medalist Stefano Mazzoli's course-record 65, rallied to win the team championship by one stroke over the University of Georgia, 853-854. Furman University placed third at 877, while the University of Memphis finished fourth with an 885 tally and Mercer University and Radford University tied for fifth at 890.
FMU occupied 11th place after Monday's two rounds, but shot a 308 score and climbed two positions past Wofford College and USC Aiken to ninth, the team's third Top-10 finish of the season and second in as many events.
Casullo finished with a scorecard of 71-70-75=216 and tied for ninth place in the players' standings. It is the first Top-10 finish of his career and equaled his low score for 54 holes set earlier this year at both the Camden Collegiate Classic and The Battle at Stono Ferry.
Caselli tied for 32nd place with a 80-70-75=225 scorecard, while junior Lars Sandvoll (77-74-78=229) tied for 44th, senior Callum McGuigan (76-74-86=236) tied for 65th, and freshman Michael Rials (82-80-80=242) finished in 82nd position.
Despite Tuesday's conditions, Mazzoli shot a course-record 7-under-par 65 to grab medalist honors. The score also equaled the junior's career-low round. Mazzoli finished with a 54-hole total of 10-under-par 206, two strokes ahead of Georgia's Davis Thompson.
The Patriots will return to action March 5-6 at USC Aiken's Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate Tournament.
Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate Men's Golf Tournament
Hilton Head Island, SC
Dates: Feb 27, 2018 (FINAL results)
No. Team Scores 1st-2nd-3rd=Total
1 TCU 287-281-285= 853 -11
2 Georgia 290-277-287= 854 -10
3 Furman 292-287-298= 877 +13
4 Memphis, U. of 290-285-310= 885 +21
T5 Mercer 300-287-303= 890 +26
T5 Radford 290-292-308= 890 +26
7 High Point 293-286-313= 892 +28
8 Charleston Southern 300-286-312= 898 +34
9 Francis Marion 304-288-308= 900 +36
10 S. Carolina - Aiken 296-292-314= 902 +38
11 Akron, U. of 304-294-307= 905 +41
12 Wofford College 295-295-317= 907 +43
13 Gardner-Webb 303-300-309= 912 +48
T14 Davidson College 299-301-318= 918 +54
T14 Dartmouth 308-300-310= 918 +54
16 Dayton 298-316-313= 927 +63
17 Cleveland State 297-306-327= 930 +66
18 Presbyterian College 314-302-329= 945 +81
