Winthrop men’s golf launches season in Illinois

The Winthrop men’s golf team opens the 2015-16 season this weekend, traveling to Sugar Grove, Ill., for the 54-hole Northern Intercollegiate held at Rich Harvest Farms.

Coach Kevin Pendley’s team will be opening up at Rich Harvest Farms, the site for the 2017 NCAA Men’s Championship, for the second straight year after finishing second in the tournament last year behind the play of Zach Seabolt, who captured medalist honors.

The Eagles will play 36 holes on Saturday and finish up with 18 holes on Sunday on the par 72, 7,151-yard layout. The 14-team tournament includes defending champion Virginia and No. 1 ranked Illinois.

The Eagles return a veteran team that is led by Seabolt, a junior from Raleigh, N.C, who earned All-American honors a year ago. Also returning are seniors Nick Eberhardt (Fort Mill, S.C.), Christian Sease (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) and Mitchell Schneider (Charlotte, N.C.), and juniors Bradley Kauffman (Greenville, SC) and Weston Bell (Piedmont, S.C.). Pendley can also call on redshirt freshman Andrew Horgan (Wraysbury, England) and a trio of true freshmen in Austin Zoller (Summerville, S.C.), Sawyer Mills (Easley, S.C.) and Michael McKee (Ware Shoals, S.C.).

“We are really excited to get the season underway,” said Pendley. “I’ve been very encouraged by practice and qualifying the first few weeks. I am excited about this group and looking forward to the opportunity to go back and compete at the Rich Harvest Farms course. It will be nice to return to a place where we have had some success.”

Pendley says the team is looking forward to playing against some top competition. In addition to top-ranked Illinois and defending champion Virginia, the field includes UCLA, Purdue, Louisville, Central Florida and Houston in addition to host team Northern Illinois.

“It is a good opportunity for our guys to go out and compete against some very good teams on a great golf course,” he said.

Fans can follow the action via live stats by visiting the men’s golf schedule on the Winthrop Athletic web site (www.winthropeagles.com).

This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Winthrop men’s golf launches season in Illinois."