Florida Gulf Coast University Athletics issued the following announcement on July 28.
After posting one of its best seasons in program history, the FGCU men's golf program was honored on Tuesday with the 2021 Mark Laesch Award by the Golf Coaches Association of America. The annual honor is presented to collegiate teams in each division and recognizes the best improvement in adjusted stroke average per round from the year prior.
The Eagles improved by a 15.26 adjusted stroke average per round during the 2020-21 year to lead all NCAA Division I programs. After playing in seven tournaments in 2019-20 before having the final three events cancelled due to the COIVD-19 pandemic, FGCU finished the year with a 300.71 stroke average. This past spring, through eight tournaments, the Green and Blue dropped that total to a 287.67 stroke average – the lowest team scoring average in school history and three strokes better than the previous record.
"It is truly an honor for our program to win an award with Mark Laesch's name on it. I remember my conversations with Mark from earlier in my career very fondly. In my opinion, he was a genius and I know if we could have conversations today, he would be so proud of us," said head coach Andrew Danna. "There is so much that goes into a team award like this – it is a testament to the hard work of our student-athletes and understanding the environment we compete in each year. I look forward to this year as we continue our effort and pursuit each day to push the limit of what's possible for our program."
That enormous jump translated into the Eagles moving up 192 spots from No. 257 after 2019-20 to No. 65 in the final 2020-21 GolfStat.com national rankings.
The improvement on the course translated into five top-four finishes this past spring which included winning the Old Corkscrew Intercollegiate and a second-place finish at the ASUN Championship Tournament – the program's best finish in program history at the league tournament. The Eagles narrowly missed reaching the NCAA Tournament in 2021 as an at-large selection though senior Van Holmgren (Plymouth, Minn./Waysata HS/North Dakota State) did compete as an individual after winning the ASUN Championship title.
The turn-around in just Danna's second year was bolstered by a talented group of players he recruited to FGCU including Holmgren who won finished 13h at the NCAA Regional and became the program's first-ever PING All-Southeast Region selection. The 2020-21 team also produced its lowest 18-hole team round in program history (-17) and for the first time in school history had half its rounds in a season at par-or-better (14-of-24).
With that team performance came ASUN Coach of the Year honors for Danna, while Holmgren (First Team), sophomore Frankie Capan III (North Oaks, Minn./Northwest Christian HS/Alabama) and freshman Austin Cherichella (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS) earned conference accolades as well.
The Eagles have four of their lowest scoring players from last season with the exception of Holmgren heading into the 2021-22 season.
2020-21 GCAA Mark Laesch Award Winners
DI: FGCU - 15.26
DII: Saginaw Valley State - 11.02
DIII: Minnesota-Morris - 52.84
NAIA: Briar Cliff - 14.87
NJCAA DI: Andrew - 17.42
NJCAA DII: Iowa Central - 16.08
HBCU: Miles College - 7.17
For complete coverage of FGCU men's golf, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram (@FGCU_MGolf), Facebook (@FGCUAthletics), and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU men's golf and all 15 sport programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
Original source can be found here.
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