The Florida Atlantic men’s golf team’s spring season is right around the corner, set to tee off Monday, Feb. 2, at the Sea Best Invitational at Atlantic Beach Country Club.
The Owls look to mirror the success of their fall opener, as they captured a win at the Myrtle Beach Golf Trips Intercollegiate in September, followed by a second-place finish at the Graeme McDowell Invitational.
Adrien Mörk will be leading the Owls in his third year as head coach. Before joining FAU in July 2023, Mörk served as an assistant coach for the TCU Horned Frogs for six seasons, helping lead the team to a runner-up finish in the 2023 Big 12 Championship.
The Owls will tee it up in six regular-season events, along with the American Conference Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Members Course. If the team can continue its strong play, they could also have a shot at the NCAA Regionals.
Currently, FAU ranks 81st in the NCAA Division I standings. If the Owls can climb into the top 60, they would make history by earning a spot in the postseason regional tournament for the first time in program history.
Coach Mörk believes the team is more than capable of reaching that goal. “That’s definitely the goal for this program when I took over two and a half years ago. The goal is to make it to the national (championship), and that’s where we’re headed. We’re getting a little closer every year, and hopefully we’ve got a shot this year,” he said.
Here is everything Owl fans need to know ahead of the 2026 season:
Coming off a record-breaking sophomore season, NaShawn Tyson, a junior from Stuart, Florida, returns looking for more success. Tyson earned an at-large bid to the NCAA regionals in Tallahassee, Fla. His sophomore season was one for the books, breaking numerous program records for the Owls. Tyson posted the third-best single-season scoring average in program history (71.55) and won the UNCW Seahawk Intercollegiate (-16) by nine strokes after rounds of 64-65-68. He also recorded a top-three finish this past fall at the Myrtle Beach Golf Trips Intercollegiate.
Tyson is only getting better. Coach Mörk stated, “NaShawn is a really, really hard worker, and he’s been practicing really hard this winter. Most guys take a few weeks off in the offseason, but NaShawn definitely didn’t take those days off, and you can tell right now he’s ready to compete.”
Another player to keep on the radar this season is Biagio Gagliardi, a sophomore from Rome, Italy. Gagliardi posted rounds of 66 and 65 (13-under-par) to win the Ironwood Collegiate Classic last year in just his second collegiate start and recorded three top-five finishes during the fall.
Gagliardi is approaching the season with a positive attitude. He said, “Enjoy it, because I feel like we’re a good team. We’ve got good chemistry, and if we just enjoy it, we go there with a positive mindset, and we’re able to score, like we did in the fall.” He recently changed his putter, still playing a Ping model but adding a longer neck to improve his pace.
Guilherme Grinberg, a graduate student from São Paulo, Brazil, enters the season in strong form, after finishing tied for 18th at the Latin American Amateur Championship, where he competed for a chance to punch his ticket to the Masters, and he added two Top-10 finishes in the fall.
FAU will participate in another event on Feb. 14-15, traveling to Gainesville for the Gator Invitational at Mark Bostick Golf Course.
The Owls will compete in three events in March, beginning with the Daytona Beach Intercollegiate on March 2-3 at the LPGA International Course, where the team finished tied for third last season. FAU will then travel to Tallahassee, Florida, for the Seminole Intercollegiate from March 15–17. The month concludes at the UNCW Seahawk Intercollegiate, on March 30–31 in Wilmington, North Carolina, where Tyson will look to defend his title.
The final event of the regular season will be the Tar Heel Intercollegiate in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, from April 11-12.
Following the regular season, the Owls will compete in the AAC Championship from April 27-29, aiming to improve on last season’s eighth-place finish, led by Biagio Gagliardi, who tied for eighth at 8-under-par.
Ella Haas is a Contributing Writer for the University Press. Email her at [email protected] or contact her on Instagram @ella_hs7 for information regarding this or other stories.
