What You Need to Know:
* Sophomore Max Herrmann won the Sun Belt Championship on Tuesday at The Raven Golf Club in Miramar Beach, Fla., surviving a three-man playoff that included teammate JJ Grey.
* Georgia State shot a 3-over 287 to finish as the top team following 54 holes of stroke play and will be the No. 1 seed when match play begins on Wednesday.
* Georgia State will play No. 4 seed South Alabama in the morning at 8:30 a.m. ET, with No. 2 Troy facing No. 3 Arkansas State. The winners will play for the championship in the afternoon.
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. – Georgia State sophomore Max Herrmann birdied three of his final five holes and survived a three-man playoff to earn low medalist honors at the Sun Belt Championship on Tuesday at The Raven Golf Club. The Panthers shot a final round 3-over 287 to finish stroke play in first place and earn the No. 1 seed in match play set for Wednesday.
Herrmann became the fifth Panther to earn conference low medalist honors in program history and the first since 2009. He shot a final round 4-under 67, but had to survive a playoff with teammate JJ Grey and Troy's Calum Masters to win the title. After Masters and Grey both just missed birdie putts, Herrmann sank his on the par 5 17th hole (first playoff hole) to earn the first individual title of his career. He finished the championship at 3-under par.
Georgia State finished the championship at 4-under par, topping Troy which finished second at 2-over. Arkansas State finished third at 3-over, followed by South Alabama in fourth at 10-over. Georgia State will face South Alabama on Wednesday morning in the semifinals of match play, with Troy facing Arkansas State. Both matches will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET with the GSU/USA match starting on Hole No. 1 and Troy/Arkansas State match going off Hole No. 10. The winners will square off in the afternoon for the team championship.
“I can't say enough about how our guys have performed so far this week,” head coach Joe Inman said. “Earning the No. 1 seed was our first goal for the week and we have accomplished that. However, our team is hungry to earn a championship and that will be the goal for Wednesday.
“I am extremely proud of the way Max played today. He finished strong and stepped up when we needed him. As happy as he was to win, he was also sad that he had to defeat JJ and that just shows the type of teammate he is.”
Grey shot a final round 75 to finish at 3-under for the championship with Masters. Troy's Clay Vannoy, along with Arkansas State teammates Andrew Huseman and Tanner Napier tied for fourth at 1-over.
Sophomore Alexander Herrmann shot a final round 1-over 72 to finish at 1-over and tied for eighth following a 64 on Monday, the third-lowest round in program history.
Freshman Nick Budd shot a final round 3-over 74 to finish tied for 24th at 7-over par. Junior Nathan Mallonee rounded out the line-up with a final round 3-over 74 to tie for 32nd.
Since 1998, Georgia State has finished in the top three in the conference tournament all but three times with seven titles and six second-place finishes.
Live scoring of match play will be available at GolfStat.com. Live video streaming can be found at SunBeltSports.org/Watch.
With a conference championship win, Georgia State will automatically earn a spot into NCAA Regional play which will be played May 16-18 at six national sites. Without a win, the Panthers will have to wait to see if they are selected as an at-large team. The NCAA championship is scheduled for May 27-June 1 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
