TOWSON, Md. – The Towson men's golf team will play its fifth tournament of the 2021 spring campaign at the Abarta Collegiate Invitational in Hellertown, Pa. The two-day event will take place at the Steel Club on Sunday and Monday.

Head coach Mike Larkin selected Justin Griffith, Jackson Courtney and, Brad Riley with his Coach's Picks.

Griffith, who has been Towson's top performer at the last two tournaments, fired an 8-under par 64 during a practice round at Eagle's Nest on April 7. The round was one off the course record, set by former Towson golfer Jimmy Grem. Griffith's round featured nine birdies.

The other two spots were up for grabs with a four-round qualifying tournament held at Eagle's Nest Country Club and Mountain Branch Golf Club over an eight-day period. Jeremy Summerson grabbed the top spot, shooting 8-under par after 72 holes. Three of his four rounds were under par, including a 69 at Eagle's Nest during the second round.

Julian Gonzalez and Derek Gold finished in a tie for the second spot with identical 13-over par scores. Gonzalez birdied the first extra hole to qualify as Towson's number five player for the tournament. 

Gold will play in the Abarta as an individual.

The 18^th Abarta Collegiate Invitational features 16 teams – Binghamton, Colgate, Fordham, Holy Cross, Lafayette, La Salle, Lehigh, Mount St. Mary's, Rider, St. Bonaventure, St. Joseph's, St. Peters, Temple, Towson, Rhode Island and Villanova.

Sunday's round features at 1:30 p.m. shotgun start, while Monday's round begins at 9:30 a.m. The Towson players will begin play on the 17^th hole.

TOURNAMENT DETAILS 
Host: Lafayette
Location: Hellertown, Pa.   
Dates: April 18-19, 2021 
Course: Steel Club – 6,986 yards; par 72

Towson's final tournament of the season will be the Colonial Athletic Association Championship (April 25-27), hosted by Dataw Island in St. Helena, S.C.

TOURNAMENT TESTED   
Junior Justin Griffith has made the travel roster in each of the 21 events since arriving on campus, including the Abarta Collegiate Invitational. The Pittsburgh native carded a career-best 69 during the second round of the Furman Invitational on March 27 then finished tied for second in the Fairleigh Dickinson Invitational, shooting 1-over par after 36 holes. After four tournaments this season, he leads the team in scoring average (74.9). Seven of his 10 rounds have been 75 or better. Griffith was Towson's top finisher in two of five spring events as a freshman in 2019 and shot a 70 at the Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate tournament in March 2020.
 
THE VETERAN
Jackson Courtney has now qualified for 27 of the 31 events during his Towson career. The senior has produced seven rounds of playing to par or better, including a pair of 70's. Courtney was named Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Golfer of the Week after finishing sixth in the Carpetbagger Classic (March 20-21).  After four tournaments this season, he ranks second on the team in scoring average (76.1).  Seven of his 10 rounds have been 76 or better.

IDENTICAL TWINS?    
Sophomores Brad Riley and Jeremy Summerson both averaged 74.0 in five tournaments during their freshman campaigns. Riley, who was named Player of the Year by The Washington Post as a senior after winning the state championship, made six eagles during the fall 2019. Summerson, a long hitter from upstate New York, had five rounds of par of better during his first season.
After four tournaments and 10 rounds this season, Summerson has taken six fewer strokes (767 to 773).

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR     
A two-time Costa Rican national champion, Julian Gonzalez played two seasons at nearby Goucher College. As a freshman, he won two tournaments, including the Landmark Conference Preview. That season he had a 71.38 scoring average and earned Division III All-America Honorable Mention honors.
 
WELCOME HOME    
Jairus Gaines played two seasons at Hampton. He finished t-11th at the rain-shortened 2019 Towson Fall Invitational at Prospect Bay, shooting a round of 73. A Gilman School graduate, Gaines finished second in the MIAA championship as a senior.

HOWARD COUNTY'S FINEST
Three members of the 2021 team hail from nearby Howard County. Jackson Courtney was part of a Marriotts Ridge team that compiled a 44-0 record over four years. He tied the county record for lowest nine holes (four under par), won county championship and finished second in the state and district championships in the fall of 2016 as a senior. Derek Gold finished second to Courtney in 2016 and won the county championship a year earlier while at River Hill. He was an individual state qualifier as a freshman and senior. At Atholton High, Branden Nguyen led the county in scoring during his junior and senior seasons and reached the state championships all four years.
 
PGA WORKS COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Jairus Gaines, Julian Gonzalez and Branden Nguyen were chosen to play in the 34^th annual PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship that will be held at historic TPC Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla, from May 3-5. The PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship dates back to 1986, when the National Negro Golf Association (NNGA) founded the National Minority College Golf Championship to provide student-athletes at HBCUs with the opportunity to compete in a national post-season championship. Today, the three-day championship is open to historically Black Colleges and Universities and other minority-serving institutions as well as selected individuals from specific ethnic origins.
 
Towson golfers have had success at the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship. Airielle Dawson became the first Towson golfer to win a national championship when she won the Women's Individual Championship in 2011. On the men's side, Nyasha Mauchaza finished second in 2010 and John Hulede placed fourth in 2017.
 
DOWN MEMORY LANE
Four current golfers teed it up in the 2016 Maryland Public School State championship at the University of Maryland Golf Course. Courtney was the runner-up after rounds of 77-71. Gold (73-84) finished in a tie for 17^th, Riley (78-83) finished tied for 25^th, while Nguyen (83-83) was 41^st.

STUDENT-ATHLETES
During the fall semester, the Towson men's golf team had the highest GPA among men's programs with a 3.411 and has the highest cumulative men's GPA at 3.390. Derek Gold earned a perfect 4.0 GPA, while Jeremy Summerson (3.976), Julian Gonzalez (3.85), Branden Nguyen (3.8) and Justin Griffith (3.55) all earned Dean's List honors.

CAREER-BEST ROUNDS    
Below is the collegiate low round for each member of the Towson golf team. Gaines and Gonzalez produced their scores at other institutions.
 

• Justin Griffith                     69          March 27, 2021
• Brad Riley                         69          Sept. 15, 2019 & Oct. 14, 2019
• Julian Gonzalez                69          Sept. 23, 2018 & Oct. 6, 2018
• Jackson Courtney             70          Sept. 22, 2018 & Apr. 7, 2019
• Jeremy Summerson         70          Sept. 14, 2019
• Jairus Gaines                    71          Sept. 27, 2019
• Derek Gold                        73          Oct. 19, 2019
• Branden Nguyen               78          March 27, 2021

 
DID YOU KNOW?    
Towson head coach Mike Larkin finished ahead of both PGA Tour standouts Kevin Kisner and Luke List at the 2005 NCAA Division I Men's Golf East Regionals. Larkin, playing as the No. 3 player for Towson behind Hall of Famers Billy Wingerd and Jeff Castle, shot rounds of 71-73-72 for a three-over par 216 to finish in a tie for 48^th place, beating Kisner (Georgia) by a stroke and List (Vanderbilt) by two. Coastal Carolina's Dustin Johnson, now the No. 1 ranked player in the world, won the event, shooting 15-under. The field also included PGA Tour standouts Webb Simpson (Wake Forest), Brendon Todd (Georgia) and Jeff Overton (Indiana).
 
TIGERS IN THE COMMUNITY    
The Towson University athletics department deems community service as one of its highest priorities to give back to the Greater Baltimore area. Towson was on track to have its 8th consecutive year of over 10,000 hours of community service in 2019-20 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all activity.  Towson finished with 7,527 hours last year, good for third in the NCAA Teamworks HelperHelper competition. Towson ranked #1 nationally for community service and won the 2018 National Championship for Community Service through the HelperHelper NCAA Team Works Competition.  Towson also won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.