PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. – Men’s and women’s golf teams from Florida to California have descended on Caledonia Golf & Fish Club and True Blue Golf Club, two of America’s top 100 resort courses, to test themselves in the Golfweek/Any Given Tuesday Intercollegiate.
The 54-hole event teed off on Monday, with 19 men’s teams playing at True Blue and 19 women’s teams challenging Caledonia. With schools jockeying for a spot in the NCAA Championships, the Golfweek/AGT Intercollegiate provides teams an opportunity to compete on a pair of nationally acclaimed Mike Strantz golf courses while measuring their games against competition from across the nation.
In the opening round, the Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) women’s team shot +5, good for a one stroke lead over High Point University. On the men’s side Valparaiso (Ind.) University shot a blistering 12-under to lead second-place University of Missouri-Kansas City by five shots.
[Golfweek/AGT Leaderboards: Men; Women]
Joining Cal Poly and High Point in the women’s tournament are USC Upstate, Austin Peay State, Coastal Carolina, North Dakota State, Ohio, Florida Gulf Coast, UNC Asheville, Florida Atlantic, Illinois-Chicago, Georgetown, University of St. Thomas, Fairleigh Dickinson, Evansville, Tennessee Tech, Winthrop, Akron, and Marshall.
In the men’s field, North Alabama, Richmond, Southern Illinois, Denver, Delaware, Stephen F. Austin, Long Island, Xavier, Austin Peay, Connecticut, James Madison, Central Arkansas, Marshall, Jacksonville State, Northern Kentucky, Ohio and USC Upstate are hoping to rally past Kansas City and Valparaiso.
At the heart of the Golfweek/AGT Intercollegiate’s appeal are Caledonia and True Blue, layouts that help anchor the ever-popular Hammock Coast Golf Trail. Caledonia combines Strantz’s architectural genius with a stunning piece of Lowcountry property to provide one of the nation’s premier golf experiences.
Playing through live oak trees draped in Spanish moss, Caledonia rewards creativity and precision, traits Cal Poly’s Sarah Yoo showed an abundance of in shooting a 3-under par 68 in the opening round.
Conversely, True Blue is an ultra-modern design, featuring expansive fairways framed by waste bunkers and large undulating greens. While True Blue allows players the latitude to swing away with the driver, it’s vital to be in the proper spots in the fairway to setup makeable birdie putts, something Valparaiso’s Caleb VanArragon and UMKC’s Lucas Dutartre did better than anyone in the field en route to firing opening round 66s.
For more information on Caledonia and True Blue, visit CaledoniaGolfandFishClub.com or TrueBlueGolf.com.
