Feb. 25, 2011

HOLLYWOOD, S.C. - Baylor men's golf will look to build on its top-five finish in its spring opener Feb. 28-March 1 with the Charleston Shootout.

The two-day Charleston Shootout, which was a late schedule addition after the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate was shortened due to weather, will be held at the 6,814-yard, par-72 Links at Stono Ferry. The first 36 holes will begin Monday, while the final 18 holes will tee off Tuesday. Live scoring for all three rounds will be available at www.GolfStat.com.

Six members of the Big South Conference (Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Presbyterian, Radford, Stetson) and three from the Atlantic Sun Conference (Campbell, Stetson, USC Upstate) make up more than half of the 15-team tournament field. Baylor, College of Charleston, Longwood, Navy, Newberry College, Villanova and Western Kentucky make up the rest of the field for the Charleston Shootout, which is co-hosted by Charleston Southern and CofC.

"We added this tournament to make up for the rain out at Royal Oaks and to give us more competition in the spring," head coach Greg Priest said. "The goal for this tournament is to put a competitive round together."

Two weeks ago, Baylor opened the spring slate with a fifth-place finish at the 17-team UTSA Oak Hills Invitational. The Bears have two top-five finishes in the first five tournaments of the season.

Baylor's lineup for the Charleston Shootout will feature four of its five top scorers and will be led by Joakim Mikkelsen, who leads the team with a 73.00 stroke average and is the only Bear to have every round count towards the team scorer. Mikkelsen will be joined in the lineup by Jerry Ruiz, Cody Paladino, Ryan O'Rear and Lorenzo Scotto.

"Obviously, we're still a little rusty and still have to work on some things," Priest said. "All we can do is keep improving from here."

Baylor will open the month of March with three tournaments in a 16-day stretch beginning March 11-13 with the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas, Nev.