Feb. 6, 2005

GAINESVILLE, Fla.–The University of South Carolina men’s golf team shot a third-round score of 289 Sunday to place fourth at the 28th annual SunTrust Gator Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. With an overall score of 869, the Gamecocks finished 11 strokes behind tournament champion University of Florida.

Eirik Johansen led all USC golfers with a 1-over par final score of 211. His consistent rounds of 70, 71 and 70 helped him move into and finish tied for second place. Mark Anderson shot a team low-round score of 69 in the first round and subsequent rounds of 72 and 71 to finish in a tie for fifth place at 2-over par.

“I was elated by the stellar play of both junior Eirik Johansen and freshman Mark Anderson,” said South Carolina Head Coach Puggy Blackmon. “The runner-up finish for Eirik indicates a return to All-American form and Mark’s solid three-round performance was the best I’ve seen by a freshman playing in only his third event.”

Robert Svensson closed out the tournament tied for 27th place at 11-over par after firing a score of 74 in the final round. Playing as an individual, Warren Thomas carded rounds of 78, 72 and 76 to finish at 16-over par and tied for 45th place.

“Junior Robert Svensson continues to develop as the attitude leader of the squad,” stated Blackmon. “His final round was impressive in that he converted what easily could have been a very poor round into a solid counting score.”

Jake Thompson and Alex Hamilton rounded out South Carolina’s team scoring by placing in ties for 50th and 69th place respectively. In the final round, Thompson matched his second-round low score of 74 to end at 17-over par. Hamilton finished at 23-over par after firing rounds of 77, 77 and 79.

Jonas Blixt of Florida State was the only golfer to finish under par, leading the field with an overall 1-under par score of 209.

South Carolina’s next tournament is the Mercedes Benz Collegiate hosted by North Florida Feb. 19-22 in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

TEAM SCORES
1 Florida 287-291-280 — 858 +18
2 Wake Forest 286-291-289 — 866 +26
3 Florida State 291-292-285 — 868 +28
4 South Carolina 292-288-289 — 869 +29
5 UCF 283-301-292 — 876 +36
6 Georgia State 296-290-291 — 877 +37
7 UAB 290-288-300 — 878 +38
8 LSU 293-290-296 — 879 +39
9 Georgia Southern 290-298-293 — 881 +41
10 Purdue 295-302-285 — 882 +42
11 Tennessee 290-301-295 — 886 +46
12 Ohio State 303-301-296 — 900 +60
13 North Florida 303-307-296 — 906 +66
14 Kentucky 294-310-304 — 908 +68
15 College of Charleston 302-299-309 — 910 +70

INDIVIDUAL SCORES
T2 Eirik Johansen 70-71-70 — 211 +1
T5 Mark Anderson 69-72-71 — 212 +2
T27 Robert Svensson 76-71-74 — 221 +11
T45 *Warren Thomas 78-72-76 — 226 +16
T50 Jake Thompson 79-74-74 — 227 +17
T69 Alex Hamilton 77-77-79 — 233 +23

*Played as an individual