MGOLF CENTRAL: SEC Championship

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee will begin postseason play this week, traveling to St. Simons Island, Ga., for the 2018 SEC Men's Golf Championship.

The tournament will run from Wednesday through Sunday. Wednesday through Friday will feature 54 holes of stroke play (18 holes each day), from which the top eight teams will advance. The individual champion and individual runner-up will be determined following the 54 holes of stroke play.

On Saturday, the eight remaining teams will compete in quarterfinal and then semifinal matches, culminating in Sunday's championship match.

Competition will take place at Sea Island Golf Club's Seaside Course, a par-70, 6,898-yard layout. The SEC Championship has been played at St. Simons Island, Ga., every year since 2001, with 15 of them taking place at the Seaside Course.

Tennessee will begin play at 1:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday, teeing off at hole 10 with South Carolina and Missouri.

Saturday's quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be streamed live on SECN+ from 4-6:30 p.m. ET, while Sunday's championship match will be televised live on the SEC Network starting at 7:30 a.m. ET.

Of the 14 SEC teams participating in the tournament, 12 are ranked among Golfstat's top 50 teams. The tournament also features 11 individuals ranked within the top 45 best individual stroke averages in Division I.

Tennessee enters postseason play coming off a team and individual victory at the Yale Spring Invitational.

The Vols finished 5-over 565 as a team to take the team win, while senior Lorenzo Scalise claimed a co-championship after tying for first-place with a score of 2-under 138. The individual win marked the first since 2014 by a Tennessee golfer.

Sophomores Brayden Garrison and Rhys Nevin also cracked the top five, as Garrison took fourth at 1-over 141 and Nevin placed fifth with a 3-over score of 143.

Tennessee's Lineup

Tennessee's History at the SEC Championship

Tennessee has won three men's golf conference titles in its history: 1980, 1990 and 2007.
At Sea Island Golf Club's Seaside Course, the location of this year's competition, Tennessee has won one team conference title (2007), as well as one individual title (2005, David Skinns).
Last season at the SEC Championship, Tennessee finished 13th overall, while Lorenzo Scalise claimed an 18th-place finish (2-over 212).
Scalise has been Tennessee's top finisher at the SEC Championship in each of the past three seasons, carding scores of 212 (2015), 217 (2016) and 212 (2017).

Scalise Leading Vols With Historic Season

Vols senior Lorenzo Scalise, currently averaging 70.12 strokes per round, is on pace to set the Tennessee single-season scoring average record. It is presently held by David Skinns at 71.87.
Scalise closed out his strong spring campaign with his first career win at the Yale Spring Invitational. It marked his eighth career top-five finish, while his two rounds under par brought his season total in that category to a team-leading 22.
Scalise enters the SEC Championship with the fourth-best stroke average of any of the competing golfers, and 17th best among all Division I golfers..
Scalise leads Tennessee in several categories, including percentage of rounds counted (96.15), rounds in the 60s (12) and average strokes per round (70.12 overall, 69.53 in the spring).

Nevin, Garrison Coming On Strong

Sophomores Rhys Nevin and Brayden Garrison both ended the regular season on a high note, each taking top-five finishes at the Yale Spring Invitational to help Tennessee to a first-place team finish.
Nevin's fifth-place finish marked the second competition in a row in which he placed in the top-15, adding to a 12th-place finish at the 3M Augusta Invitational. Nevin's 71.91 stroke average this season is the second-best mark on the team.
Garrison, the fourth-place finisher at the Yale Spring Invitational, also has been a force for Tennessee this season. Garrison's stroke average of 72.72 is good for third on the team, while his 13 rounds of par or better are the second best on the team.

Several Vols Have Improved Numbers From Last Season

Four Vols have improved their stroke averages from last season, while Tennessee as a team also has improved its results.
As a team, the Vols have improved their average strokes per tournament each of the past two seasons, as well as improving last season's average finish of 7.8 to this season's average finish of fifth place.
Tennessee also has increased its number of team rounds of par or better (10 to 12), team top-five finishes (two to seven) and team top-three finishes (two to four).
Rhys Nevin: 74.22 last season to 71.91 this season (improvement of 2.31 strokes).
Brayden Garrison: 75.00 last season to 72.72 this season (improvement of 2.28 strokes).
Lorenzo Scalise: 72.17 last season to 70.12 this season (improvement of 2.09 strokes).
Jake Meenhorst: 74.07 last season to 73.21 this season (improvement of 0.86 strokes).

More On The Vols

Tennessee's freshmen trio of Sean Wilcox (redshirt freshman), Spencer Cross, and Chase Roswall have continued a strong inaugural campaign, with 19 rounds of par or better and five top-10 finishes between them. The freshmen have also had combined 63 percent of their rounds counted during the fall and spring seasons and tallied a combined 11 rounds in the 60s.
Three Vols are among the top 300 in the Golfweek Men's Collegiate Individual Rankings: Lorenzo Scalise (17th, 69.22 rating), Rhys Nevin (134th, 71.01), Brayden Garrison (272nd, 71.88).
Tennessee head coach Jim Kelson is aided by third-year director of instruction/player development Sean Pacetti.

SEC Teams in Golfstat's Team Rankings
        2. Texas A&M
        4. Vanderbilt
        6. Alabama
        7. Florida
        9. Auburn
        11. LSU
        16. Arkansas
        19. Kentucky
        34. Ole Miss
        38. South Carolina
        39. Missouri
        50. Tennessee
        54. Georgia
        56. Mississippi State

SEC Golfers in Division I Top 50 Players' Scoring
         6. Braden Thornberry, Ole Miss
         7. Hayden Buckley, Missouri
         13. Theo Humphrey, Vanderbilt
        17. Lorenzo Scalise, Tennessee
        23. Ben Schlottman, Auburn
        26. Brandon Mancheno, Auburn
        T-31. Chandler Phillips, Texas A&M
        T-31. Jovan Rebula, Auburn
        T-31. Will Gordon, Vanderbilt
        40. Spencer Ralston, Georgia
        45. Jamie Stewart, Missouri

Additional Information

Live stats will be available at SECsports.com and 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.

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Players Mentioned

Spencer Cross

Brayden Garrison

Jake Meenhorst

Rhys Nevin

Chase Roswall

Lorenzo Scalise

Sean Wilcox

University of Tennessee Athletics