HERSHEY, Pa. -- Franklin & Marshall men's golf looks to repeat as conference champions, teeing off at Hershey Country Club this afternoon for the first round of the Centennial Conference (CC) Championship at 1:03 p.m. in Chocolatetown. The Diplomats are in search of their seventh CC crown in eight years and 12th overall, after bringing the trophy back to Lancaster in 2021 with a one-stroke victory over Gettysburg.
F&M sends a team of Roy Anderson, Jas Fuhrer, Michael Gallagher, Shane Lawler, and Dominic Sculti to the par-70, 6212-yard East course to recapture the conference title. All five golfers are averaging within nearly a stroke of each other, ranging from Jas Fuhrer's 74.9 to Gallagher's 76 average.
Anderson has impressed in his first season with the Diplomats, putting together a +4 average to par across 13 rounds of play. His best finishes came in the fall, putting up a one-under performance at the Mason-Dixon Collegiate Classic to finish third, then finishing fourth at the Gino Biondi Memorial Tournament. In the spring, the first-year has put together a pair of top-25 finishes - ending tied for 20th at the McDaniel Spring Invitational and tied for 22nd at the F&M Spring Invitational.
Fuhrer looks to grab medalist honors this year after placing second in 2021, falling just four shots off the leader's pace with a +10 total. The junior has had success at Hershey this spring - carding a one-over 71 in the second round of the Hershey Cup. Fuhrer has come on strong to finish off the spring - shooting just six strokes over par through his last four rounds. He's finished third in his last two outings - shooting +4 at the Garden State Collegiate Classic and +1 this past Monday at the F&M Spring Invitational.
Gallagher seeks to improve on his 12th place finish at last year's CC Championship, totalling a 161 (+19) after both rounds in Hershey. Gallagher has impressed this spring, grabbing a medalist finish at the Dickinson Spring Invitational with an even-par 72, then finishing second at the Garden State Collegiate Classic the following weekend with a +3 effort.
Lawler has turned in more top-ten finishes than anyone on the squad, with six such finishes in his last seven outings across the fall and spring. A medalist finish at the Gino Biondi Memorial Tournament highlights his tremendous rookie season for the Diplomats. Lawler finished off his spring tournaments with a fourth place finish at the Garden State Collegiate Classic, then turning in an even-par 71 at F&M's Spring Invite to capture second. The first-year does have two rounds of experience at Hershey, finishing with 76 and 78 rounds at the Hershey Cup at the beginning of the month.
Sculti adds depth to the squad, shooting all of his rounds under 80 this season to bring in a 75.2 average. The sophomore finished last year's Championship in a tie for sixth, battling the conditions to shoot +17 at Hershey. Sculti shot even better at the Hershey Cup in early-April, rounding out his weekend with a 74 to finish +13 in the tournament. His best finish came in the fall, placing second at the Gino Biondi Memorial Tournament in October.
Sculti will tee off first at 1:03 p.m., followed by Gallagher (1:12 p.m.), Lawler (1:21 p.m.), Anderson (1:30 p.m.), and Fuhrer (1:39 p.m.)
