MGOLF CENTRAL: 2017 Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate

Friday, October 13

Jonesborough, Tenn.

All Day

University of Tennessee

Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate

October 12, 2017 | Men's Golf

Pairings Team Leaderboard Player Leaderboard Course Info.Tourney History Golfstat Poll Golfweek Poll

By: Eric Trainer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The #15/11-ranked Tennessee men's golf team will return to action this weekend, as it competes in the 20th Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate in Jonesborough.

The event will take place Friday through Sunday at the Blackthorn Club at The Ridge. Tee times are 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Friday and Saturday, with teams teeing off from No. 1. On Sunday, teams will start on No. 1 and No. 10.

The field features 15 teams, headed by No. 5/5 Missouri, No. 15/11 Tennessee, No. 17/17 Kent State and No. 46/46 Louisville. The rest of the field includes Coastal Carolina, East Tennessee State, East Carolina, Furman, Kansas State, Penn State, UNC Wilmington, VCU, Villanova, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

The Vols are coming off a second-place finish at The Jackrabbit in Valentine, Neb., on Oct. 1-3, where five UT men carded top-20 efforts. The Big Orange were fueled by a runner-up showing from sophomore Rhys Nevin (14-under 202) and finishes of 10th and 11th, respectively by freshman Spencer Cross (8-under 208) and sophomore Brayden Garrison (7-under 209). The effort by Cross came in his collegiate debut.

UT is making its 19th appearance in the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate and has claimed victory on three occasions, including 2004, 2006 and 2009. The Vols placed third in 2015 before turning in a tie for 13th a year ago.

The top finisher for Tennessee at this tournament a year ago was Lorenzo Scalise, who tied for fifth at 206. The Vol senior will not be with the team this time around, as he is competing as an amateur at the Italian Open this weekend.

Tennessee's Lineup

Rhys Nevin (So. / Cheshire, England)
Jake Meenhorst (So. / Auckland, New Zealand)
Spencer Cross (Fr. / Sevierville, Tennessee)
Brayden Garrison (So. / Nolensville, Tennessee)
Sean Wilcox (R-Fr. / Frisco, Texas)
Chase Roswall (Fr. / Bristol, Tenn.) – Playing as an individual

Vol History At The Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate

This is the 19th appearance by Tennessee at this event.
UT won in 2004, 2006. and 2009 and has six top-five finishes all-time.
Vols winning this event include Ian Parnaby (2002, five-way tie, 1-under 215), Philip Pettit Jr. (2004, 8-under 208) and Chris Paisley (2007, 10-under 216).
Paisley is one of three players recording the best round in this tournament, carding an 8-under 64 on the second day in 2007.

Last Season At This Event

The Vols tied for 13th a year ago at this tournament, shooting a 10-over 874.
Lorenzo Scalise was UT's top individual, tying for fifth with a 10-under 206.
Scalise will be absent this weekend, as he is playing in the Italian Open as an amateur.
Two other Vols who participated at this event last season will be in Jonesborough, including sophomores Rhys Nevin and Brayden Garrison.
Nevin, who was UT's fourth-best performer, tied for 65th with an 8-over 224.
Garrison, meanwhile, tied for 74th as UT's fifth-best finisher with a 14-over 230.

UT Seeking Third Consecutive Top-Five Team Finish

The Vols are seeking to open a season with three consecutive top-five finishes for the first time since 2008-09.
That year, UT was second at the Carpet Capital Collegiate, second at the Ping/Golfweek Preview and third at the Wolf Pack Classic, going on to end the year 12th at the NCAA Championships.
This season, the Vols opened by tying for fifth at the Carpet Capital Collegiate on Sept. 8-10 and taking second by three strokes at The Jackrabbit on Oct. 1-3.

Youth Being Served

Tennessee will compete with a lineup of three two sophomores, a redshirt freshman and a true freshman this weekend. They'll also have another true freshman playing as an individual.
UT's top-five season stroke averages thus far are 69.33 by freshman Spencer Cross, 70.33 by redshirt freshman Sean Wilcox, 70.67 by senior Lorenzo Scalise and sophomore Rhys Nevin, and 71.17 by sophomore Brayden Garrison.
In his collegiate debut at The Jackrabbit on Oct. 1-3, Cross was UT's second-best performer, turning in scores of 69-68-71 to card an 8-under 208 and finished 10th overall.
Wilcox also debuted at the Jackrabbit while playing as an individual and finished tied for 20th at 5-under (69-71-71--211).

Scalise Leading The Way

Senior Lorenzo Scalise has been UT's top performer in three of his last four tournaments and seven times during his career.
Scalise has posted top-20 efforts in three of his last four outings, including a top-10 (t9th) finish in his first tournament of 2017-18, the Carpet Capital Collegiate.
The native of Milan, Italy, has recorded 47 rounds of par or better during his career (five of six this season) and has carded six top-10 finishes and 18 in the top 25 (one and one in those categories as a senior).

More On The Vols

Tennessee returns eight of 11 golfers from a year ago and added two newcomers.
Key losses included seniors Juan Serrano and Jack Smith, who had the second- and fifth-best stroke averages (73.00, 73.83) on the squad last season among regulars.
Lorenzo Scalise is the Vols' lone senior and top returnee with a stroke average of 72.17 in 30 rounds a year ago. That number was the best among Vol regulars.
Scalise's scores counted in 27 of those 30 rounds in 2016-17, and he carded three top-10 tourney finishes as a junior.
Rhys Nevin's score counted in 17 of 21 rounds a year ago, while Jake Meenhorst counted in 12 of 15 and Brayden Garrison's tally was included in 11 of 15. Then freshmen, their averages were 74.22 (7th), 74.07 (6th) and 75.00 (8th), respectively, on the team.
Head coach Jim Kelson (1,933-1,370-54) is in his 20th season as head coach at UT, and he is aided by third-year director of instruction/player development Sean Pacetti.

Tournament Info./Notes

This is the 20th season of the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate.
The tournament began in 1998 as The Ridges Intercollegiate before adding the current title sponsor in 2002.
The Blackthorn Club at The Ridges was designed by Arthur Hills and features a 7,147-yard, par-72 layout.
Virginia won last year's team title at 829 (35-under), while Penn State's Charles Huntzinger was the individual medalist with a 13-under 203 that tied for the tourney's best three-round score.

Additional Information

Live stats will be available at Golfstat.com.
For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee men's golf team, visit the tournament central page on utsports.com, follow @Vol_Golf on twitter and like the Vols at Facebook.com/TennesseeMensGolf.