#10 Men's Golf Places 6th at Saint Leo Invitational

DADE CITY, Fla. – No. 10 Florida Southern men's golf concluded play at the Saint Leo Invitational, where the Moccasins placed sixth out of 20 teams on Lake Jovita Golf and Country Club. Max Watson and Tyler Mistretta finished inside the top-25 of the 108 player field.
 
Max Watson, a native of Ashland, Ohio, paced the team with a 17^th place finish after carding a 54-hole score of 213 (-3). The senior opened the tournament Monday with a 77 (+5) before shaving six strokes for a second round 69 (-3). He closed the tournament with a five-under 67 to jump 27 spots on the player leaderboard. Watson was second in the 108-player field in total birdies with 18 and was tops on the team.
 
Tyler Mistretta joined Watson inside the top-25 of the field with a 25^th place finish at one-under 215 for the event. Mistretta was consistent and used rounds of 73 (+1), 70 (-2), and 72 (E) to make up his score. Mistretta recorded the team's lone eagle, which came during round two on the par-5 11^th.
 
Donte Groppuso was third on the team and finish just ahead of Max Barile. Groppuso finished at 217 (+1) in 34^th place with nearly identical scores across the board of 72-73-72. Barlie, the team leader in pars (37) and finished tied for the lead in the field on best scoring average on par 3s (2.67), had back-to-back rounds of 71 (-1) before a final round 76 (+4) dropped him to fourth on the team.
 
Adam Alvarez finished the event tied for 60^th at 221 (+5) after rounds of 74-73-74.
 
No. 10 Florida Southern finished with a score of 858 (-6), besting No. 4 Lee by three strokes (861) and falling just short of Valdosta State by a single stroke.
 
No. 14 Saint Leo ran away with the tournament with scores of 277-280-276 for a grand total of 833 (-31). The Lions saw Adrian Soriano challenge for the medalist honors but fall just short in second place at 205 (-11). Soriano carded the low round for the event in round one of 63 (-9) to take a commanding lead.
 
NAIA No. 2 Keiser saw its top player, No. 11 Isac Wallin sprint past Soriano for first place with a sub-200 score of 199 (-17). Wallin used rounds of 65-67-67 to comprise his 54-hole score.
 
6^th – No. 10 Florida Southern – 290-283-285 – 858 (-6)
T17 – Max Watson – 77-69-67 – 213 (-3)
T25 – Tyler Mistretta – 73-70-72 – 215 (-1)
T34 – Donte Groppuso – 72-73-72 – 217 (+1)
T36 – Max Barile – 71-71-76 – 218 (+2)
T60 – Adam Alvarez – 74-73-74 – 221 (+5)
 
No. 10 Florida Southern returns to the links on Feb. 26-28 at the Desert Invitational in Borrego Springs, Calif.