PETERSBURG, Va. — The Catawba College men's golf program opens the fall side of its 2025-26 season on Monday at the Griffin Invitational hosted by Saint Leo at the Country Club of Petersburg.

The Team
- Catawba is coming off a 2024-25 campaign that included four team finishes on the podium and a year-end national ranking of No. 53
- In the preseason Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches Poll, the blue and white were the fifth team receiving votes outside the Top 25
- Paul Esnault, who qualified for the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional as an individual last year, anchors a six-golfer group of returners
- Ilia Antoniadis enjoyed a solid rookie year, finishing three tournaments with an under-par score with a third-place finish at the Sherman B. Smith Memorial

The Lineup (2024-25 rankings and stats)
1. Paul Esnault (#100, 72.78 stroke average)
2. Ilia Antoniadis (#176, 73.24 stroke average)
3. Alec Barker (mid-year transfer from EKU, shot four-over in one event last fall)
4. Pranay Kapur (#379, 74.46 stroke average)
5. Maxence Bonnet (freshman, finished third in the Grand Prix de Pau Golf Club 1856 in July)

The Field
- Host Saint Leo is the lone ranked team at No. 20 in the GCAA's preseason poll
- Catawba, Palm Beach Atlantic, Belmont Abbey, Valdosta State and Eckerd are vote-receiving squads that will be in attendance
- PBA is the defending Griffin Invitational champion, winning by four shots in the 2024 rendition held in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla., which was an NCAA Regional host site
- Fellow South Atlantic Conference program Coker is among the 12 other teams in action
- The tournament is named for Griffin Clark, a 21-year-old golfer at Saint Leo who tragically passed away in a car accident in 2016

Follow Along
- Proceedings open with a shotgun start tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m.
- Live scoring is accessible via SCOREBOARD by Clippd