March 30, 2008

Spartanburg, S.C. - It is a rare occasion that the USC Upstate men's golf team gets to play close to Spartanburg, but the Spartans will take advantage of just that opportunity Monday and Tuesday in the Coca-Cola Wofford Invitational played at the Carolina Country Club.

Upstate is familiar with Carolina Country Club as the venue is one of two practice sites, along with Woodfin Ridge, of the Upstate golf teams. The familiarity with the course should help Upstate as the Spartans will join 11 other schools in the event. The field includes host Wofford, Akron, Appalachian State, Charleston Southern, Elon, Furman, High Point, Presbyterian, Radford, Stetson, USC Beaufort and Upstate. The tournament fields four teams (Akron - 135, Elon - 118, Fuman - 97, Radford - 137) ranked in the top 150 in the latest Golfstat rankings. The teams will play 36 holes Monday and 18 Tuesday in the 54-hole event.

Upstate is coming off of an eighth-place finish in the Lamkin Grips/Cal Poly Invitational in California. The Spartans won the Rutgers Invitational to start the season and the BSC Classic this spring. Upstate has placed in the top five in seven of the 10 tournaments they have played this season.

One reason for the solid play as a team is that an Upstate golfer has won an amazing six individual titles in the 10 tournaments so far this year. Josh Gallman leads the way with four individual titles of his own. He won at the Sea Trail Intercollegiate and the Stetson/CFSC Invitational in the fall and the Lonnie D. Small Classic and the Samford Invitational this spring. Michael Lawrence won the individual championship at the Rutgers Invitational and Tyler Tucker took medalist honors at the BSC Classic.