What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State, which has won the last two Furman Intercollegiate golf tournaments, will return to the Greenville, S.C., event beginning on Friday.
* Georgia State, currently ranked No. 64 in the country, is led by senior JJ Grey who moved up to No. 87 in the latest GolfStat rankings after a third place finish last week.
* Last season, the Panthers cruised to a 16-stroke win at the Furman Intercollegiate.

ATLANTA – Georgia State, the two-time defending champions, will open the Furman Intercollegiate in Greenville, S.C., on Friday, concluding a busy month of golf.

Georgia State, ranked No. 64 in the latest GolfStat rankings, won last year's event on the Furman University Golf Course by 16 strokes a year after sharing the team title with Virginia Tech.

Led by JJ Grey, the Panthers finished sixth at the prestigious Schenkel Invitational just last weekend. Grey finished tied for third, his third third-place finish of the year, to move up to No. 87 in the country.

“Our guys are playing their best golf of the year,” head coach Joe Inman said. “Each player has been working hard on their games so that we are peaking at the right time. I am proud of the way we played last weekend and I look forward to defending our title at Furman this weekend.”

Georgia State's line-up will be the same as last weekend and include Grey, junior Nathan Mallonee, sophomore Alexander Herrmann and Max Herrmann, along with freshman Nick Budd.

Five Panthers will also compete as individuals. Making the trip up I-85 will be Nathan Williams, James Kyles, Hayden Poole, Sean Murphy and Sam Asbury.

The field for this year's event includes Akron, Chattanooga, Dartmouth, Francis Marion, host Furman, Gardner-Webb, Harvard, Jacksonville, Marshall, Mercer, Presbyterian College, Samford, Temple, USC Aiken, USC Upstate, Virginia Tech, Western Carolina and Wofford.

Through the years, a number of familiar names have played the course and participated in the Furman Intercollegiate. Past winners include Curtis Strange, Jay Haas, Mark Calcavecchia, Billy Andrade, Matt Kuchar and Furman's Brad Faxon.  

Round one of the 54-hole tournament tees off on Friday morning at 8 a.m. with second round play slated for Saturday and final round action scheduled to begin on Sunday morning. Georgia State will be paired with Mercer and Akron for the first two rounds, teeing off at 8:50 a.m. on Friday. The Panthers will be a part of the afternoon wave on Saturday.

Live scoring can be found throughout the tournament at Golfstat.com. The Panthers will play a practice round on Thursday.