written by:  Chris Webb

The Valdosta State golf team packs their clubs up for Texas next week as they will compete in the 10th annual St. Edwards Invitational.

The two-day tournament is held on Mar. 3-4 at the Grey Rock Golf Club in Austin, Texas.

Five top-25 teams will join the Blazers to make up the 16-team field, including defending national champions, No.1 Barry University and No.4 Cal State-Monterey Bay.

VSU looks to bounce back after a 10th place performance at the Matlock Collegiate Classic on Feb. 11.

A first round 305 score put VSU in 13th of 15 teams and killed any chance of a top five finish as the Blazers were stuck looking up the scoreboards the rest of tournament.

One of the few bright spots to take away from The Matlock was the play of junior Austin McNeil, who finished in 20th individually shooting a (+3) 219.

VSU will need for McNeil to continue his solid play coming into this week at the challenging Grey Rock Golf Club which hosts the annual tournament every March.

Joining McNeil, head coach Jared Purvis is sending Alex Jones, John Fordham, Florian Schmiedel, and Freshman Mitch Lomis to Texas to make up the five-man team.

This group has proven that they can put up low scores; the next step is getting everyone hitting the ball well on the same day.

The Blazers haven’t been able to put low rounds together for consecutive days and the lack of consistency has been the biggest problem for VSU so far this season.

If  VSU wants to be in a good position on this tough golf course, they will want to avoid those one or two rounds shooting in the high 70s and low 80s, which has hurt them in recent tournaments.