April 16, 2009

The Colonial Athletic Association Men's Golf Championship begins on Friday morning at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga. The 54-hole tournament will conclude on Sunday afternoon with the winners earning an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship.

Eleven men's teams will compete at the par 72, 7,057-yard Mountain View Course. The course was the home to the PGA Tour's Buick Challenge for more than a dozen years and should provide an outstanding test. Tee times begin at 8 am.

The Patriots are led by sophomoreMarshall Tinsley who finished with a 77.1 stroke average. He carded a low round 70 twice, most recently at the ODU Seascape. Freshman Josh Apple earned a team-best 75.3 strokes per average, but an injury kept him out of the second half of the spring season.

Georgia State is the defending CAA men's golf champion, posting a 25-stroke victory over second-place Old Dominion in 2008 at The Golden Horseshoe in Williamsburg, Va. The Panthers have won two of the last three (2006 and 2008) titles and enter the Championship ranked 58 by Golfstat.

Mason finished 9th in the 2008 tournament. Only two players are currently on the team from that squad, Tinsley and Greg Brouse.