AIKEN, S.C.---The No. 16 Chattanooga men's golf team opens play Monday at the Palmetto Intercollegiate, which is part the Cleveland Golf Collegiate Championship series.  The two-day event is hosted by the Palmetto Golf Club and the tourney field includes No. 30 Virginia Tech, as well as Southern Conference rivals Elon and Furman.

“We added this tournament late because of losing competition days to weather in the fall,” said Head Coach Mark Guhne.  “This is a key week for us playing here and at the Linger Longer Invitational (March 14-16).  It is a chance to take a few steps forward after not playing well enough in Florida.”

The Mocs are led by junior Jonathan Hodge.  Hodge is ranked No. 58 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index with a 70.71 rating.  He leads the SoCon with a 71.19 stroke average.

Sophomore Derek Rende is tied for second in the SoCon with a 71.25 scoring average and is No. 73 (70.89 rating) according to Golfweek.  Fellow sophomore Fredrik Qvicker is fifth in scoring at 72.19 strokes per round.

Sophomores J.T. Clendenin (72.90), Tripp Harris (72.86) and junior Ben Rickett (72.80) round out the travel party.