February 22, 2008 --- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

SMC Men's Golf Starts Season Against Two In-State Rivals  

Team Goal Is To Win Regional Tournament, Go To NJCAA Nationals 

SPARTANBURG, SC – The SMC men’s golf team starts its 2008 season this weekend in a battle to hold on to the SC Challenge Cup title. 

The tournament, which is held each semester with in-state rivals Tri-County Technical College and USC Lancaster, starts Sunday, Feb. 24 at the par-72, 6,480-yard Fox Run Golf Course in Simpsonville. It concludes on Monday at the par-72, 6,710-yard Southern Oaks Golf Course in Easley 

“This tournament will be a good gauge for the rest of the season. It will show who is ready to start play for the season,” says SMC Athletic Director and men’s golf coach Mark Perdue.

 Eleven members of the SMC team will be going to the tournament and will be divided into two teams. 

“We want to win this again,” says Perdue. 

The men’s team came in first and second in the Fall 2007 SC Challenge Cup, with an eight stroke lead over USC-L by SMC’s blue team. The SMC men also finished second in a field of six at the first annual SMC Invitational last fall. 

Perdue says this spring’s lineup will be based on player performance in the Fall 2007 season. 

Sophomore Matt Jackson, of Gloverville, SC, is predicted to lead the SMC men’s team this season, with freshmen Daniel Hardy, from Lexington, SC, and Chancen Blackwood, from Spartanburg, filling in at the No. 2 and 3 slots.  

Perdue several other players will be vying for the 4th and 5th  positions. 

“Our guys are stepping up and are motivated. They’re taking everything very serious this season,” says Perdue. 

Perdue says the goal for the team this season is to claim the Region X title and go to the National Junior College Athletic Association’s national tournament in Alabama in April.  

“We have a very good chance to win the region – our goal is to beat Cape Fear Community College,” says Perdue.

SMC has one of the only five men’s golf programs in Region X, including Pitt Community College, Surry Community College, Rockingham Community College, and Cape Fear. Cape Fear won the Region title in 2007. 

Perdue predicts invitationals hosted this season by North Greenville College and Tusculum College will have the strongest competition for SMC to overcome.  

He also says that SMC has a strong chance of winning invitationals hosted this season by Montreat College and the University of Virginia at Wise.

Spartanburg Methodist College has 14 intercollegiate teams that compete in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association, which includes colleges in the Carolinas, Virginia, and West Virginia.  

The College is in its 97th year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment. More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning. 

For more information, contact head coach Mark Perdue at (864) 587-4237. 

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