Bryant claims team crown in Peacock Invitational at chilly Fox Hollow; La Salle finishes in a tie for ninth

    It was probably too cold to be playing golf Monday at Fox Hollow Golf Club in Branchburg, N.J.

   But if you’re La Salle and you haven’t played competitively since the City 6 Championship in November of 2019 at Huntingdon Valley Country Club – another pretty cold day, by the way – you just wanted to get out there in something that counted.

   Such is the state of affairs in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic that the host for Monday’s Peacock Invitational, St. Peter’s, was unable to compete due to coronavirus concerns. But 16 teams did play in the one-round shootout, played in what sounds like temperatures in the low- to mid-30s with enough wind to make it feel more like mid- to high-20s.

   Bryant, behind Nick Piersall, a senior from Portland, Conn. who finished in a tie for third place in the individual standings with a 1-over 71 over the 6,403-yard, par-70 Fox Hollow layout, captured the team title with a 20-over 300 total, two shots better than Fairleigh Dickinson and Fairfield, which shared second place, each landing on 22-over 302.

   Iona and Hartford were another three shots behind Fairleigh Dickinson and Fairfield in a tie for fourth place, each posting a 25-over 205 total. Long Island finished in sixth place with a 308 total, St. John’s was seventh at 310 and Rider was eighth at 311.

   La Salle ended up in a tie for ninth place with Monmouth at 32-over 312.

   Backing up Piersall for Bryant, which plays out of the Northeast Conference, was Patrick Galleher, a sophomore from Midlothian, Va. who was part of a five-way logjam tied for eighth place at 4-over 74. Jack Woods, a sophomore from Danbury, Conn., gave the Bulldogs three finishers among the top 16 as he finished in a tie for 16^th place with a 6-over 76.

   Tyler Hahn, a junior from Avon, Conn., got it in under 80 and his 79, which left him among the group tied for 36^th place, was the final counter for Bryant. Rounding out the Bryant lineup was Dan Kurson, a redshirt sophomore from Newton, Mass who carded an 82 to land in the group tied for 57^th place.

   Fairfield’s Jason Salameno, a junior from Pompton Lakes, N.J., proved that it wasn’t impossible to play well in the conditions Monday at Fox Hollow as he carded a 1-under 69 to claim the individual title. Iona’s Oisin Devereux, a graduate student from Ireland, matched par with a 70 to earn runnerup honors.

   Joining Bryant’s Piersall in a tie for third place at 1-over 71 was St. John’s Ryan Rittberger, a sophomore from Greenlawn, N.Y.

   Rider’s Austin Devereux, a senior from Brielle, N.J., finished a shot behind Piersall and Rittberger in fifth place with a 2-over 72. A pair of Hartford Hawks, Matthew Schwab, a senior from Chandler, Ariz., and Elias Gross, a graduate student from Thousand Oaks, Calif., finished a shot behind Austin Devereux in a tie for sixth place, each signing for a 3-over 73.

   Joining Bryant’s Galleher in the group tied for eighth place at 4-over 74 were Fairfield’s Shane DeVincenzo, a sophomore from Port Jefferson, N.Y., Fairleigh Dickinson’s Freddie Spencer, a sophomore from South Africa, Long Island’s Jan Rybczynski, a freshman from Poland, and St. John’s Jack Simon, a junior from Sparta, N.Y.

   La Salle was led by Ron Fischang, a senior from McKinney, Texas who carded a 7-over 77. Matthew Werner, a junior from West Linn, Ore., and senior David Kim, who starred scholastically at Upper Dublin, both landed among the group tied for 26^th place, each registering a 78.

   Junior Parker Wine, a former Unionville standout, got it in under 80 with a 79 that enabled him to land among the group tied for 36^th place and was the final counter for the Explorers. Sophomore Karsen Rush, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in 2017 as a junior at Chambersburg, rounded out the La Salle lineup as he struggled to an 89 and finished alone in 77^th place.

   All five players in the La Salle lineup were also in the lineup when the Explorers last teed it up as a team in the City 6 Championship at Huntingdon Valley 16 months ago.

   Rider sophomore Andrew Forjan, a former York Catholic standout, signed for an 81 and was in the group tied for 49^th place.