The Virginia Tech men's golf team will conclude the 2017-18 regular season this weekend in the Stitch Intercollegiate. The three-day event will be played Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the par 72, 7,003-yard MacGregor Downs Country Club in Cary, North Carolina.
A new event on the Hokies' schedule, this year's field features 12 teams. Tech is one of four ACC schools in the tournament, which is highlighted by No. 26 Wake Forest and No. 27 Duke. In all, eight teams in Golfstat.com's top 90 are in the event.
Once again this week, the Hokies will play Mark Lawrence Jr., in the first spot. The junior from Richmond, Virginia, leads the Hokies in scoring average and Crunch Time scoring average. He has seven top 20 finishes this season, including a fifth place finish in the season-opening Gopher Invitational. He finished sixth at 3M Augusta Invitational two weeks ago.
Connor Burgess is in the second position for Tech. The freshman from Lynchburg, Virginia, is second among active Hokies in scoring average and third in Crunch Time scoring. He has the team's best individual finish this season, a second place showing in the Janney Invitational in the fall.
Ian Hildebrand is in the third position for the Hokies in Cary. The senior from Purcellville, Virginia, is having his best semester at Tech, starting every event. He had his best-ever showing last month at the Furman Intercollegiate, with a third place finish.
Slade Pickering will play fourth for Tech. The freshman from North West, South Africa, has established his spot in the starting line-up this semester and finished a career-best 28that Furman last month.
Joey Jordan will man the fifth position for the Hokies. The junior from Richmond, Virginia, joined the team last month as a walk-on and immediately finished 16th at Furman. He made his debut in the starting line-up in the last event, at the 3M Augusta Invitational.
The tournament will feature a practice round on Thursday and three days of single round play on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Live scoring will be available on Hokiesports.com, via a link from Golfstat.com.