It became obvious as Temple’s fall campaign wore on that a
couple of younger players, freshman Dawson Anders, who captured the Golf
Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ crown last summer, and sophomore Liam
McGrath had worked their way into Brian Quinn’s lineup.
Anders, a Souderton product, has shown flashes of the kind
of talent he possesses and McGrath, who played scholastically at the Academy of
the New Church, has been pretty steady. But they’re still younger players,
which means they’re occasionally going to take their lumps.
Anders was Temple’s top finisher in the Furman
Intercollegiate, which concluded Sunday at the Furman University Golf Course in
Greenville, S.C., but his tie for 70th was indicative of a tough
weekend for the Owls. They finished 20th in the 21-team field with a
60-over-par 924 total, 77 shots behind tournament champion North Florida, No.
28 in the latest Golfstat rankings.
It was Temple’s second foray to South Carolina this spring
as the Owls finished 14th of 18 teams earlier this month in the
Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate at the Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken,
S.C.
Anders showed his potential there with a sparkling 5-under
65 in the second round that enabled him to lead the way for the Owls as he
ended up tied for 28th.
But after opening with a solid even-par 72 over the
7,031-yard, par-71 Furman University layout Friday, Anders struggled with an 80
in Saturday’s second round before finishing up with a 77 for a 229 total.
Trey Wren, a junior from Suffolk, Va., was another two shots
behind Anders in a group tied for 86th at 231. Wren has been a solid
player throughout his Temple career. After opening with a 79, Wren posted a
pair of 76s.
John Barone, a redshirt junior from Dunmore, was two more
shots behind Wren in a group tied for 91st at 233. He never really
got untracked with rounds of 79, 76 and 78.
McGrath, who was Temple’s second-best finisher in the
Cleveland Golf Palmetto, couldn’t get it going in the Furman Intercollegiate.
He posted a final-round 82 to finish tied for 101st at 236, although
his second-round 75 shared medalist honors for the Owls for the day.
Redshirt sophomore Erik Reisner, a two-time Central League
champion at Harriton, was the other Owl to post a 3-over 75 in the second
round, but he opened with an 80 and closed with an 83 to finish in a group tied
for 110th at 238.
Reisner shifted into the lineup in place of junior Sam
Soeth, Reisner’s old Central League rival at Marple Newtown. Soeth struggled in
the Cleveland Golf Palmetto, finishing tied for 85th, so Reisner got
a shot in the Furman Intercollegiate.
The Owls will tee it up in the Cornell Spring Invitational
this weekend in Florida and in the Princeton Invitational the following
weekend, their final two tuneups for the American Athletic Conference
Championship April 22 to 24 in Palm Harbor, Fla.
North Florida, meanwhile, showed it is deserving of its
lofty national ranking. The Jacksonville-based Ospreys opened with a 10-under
278 and never looked back, adding a 3-under 285 in Saturday’s second round
before finishing up Sunday with a 4-under 284 for a 17-under 847 total.
North Florida was the only team to finish under par, so the
golf course was playing pretty tough for the rest of the field. And the
cold-weather gear the Ospreys are sporting in the picture from the trophy
presentation on their website would seem to indicate it wasn’t exactly Florida
weather in Greenville last weekend.
North Florida was two shots away from earning a berth in the
NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms last spring and Travis Trace, a junior
home-boy from Jacksonville, did punch a ticket as an individual in the NCAA
Championship field.
The Ospreys had a 1-2 finish in the individual standings in
the Furman Intercollegiate as Phillip Knowles, a junior from Bradenton, Fla.,
captured the title at 9-under 207 and Andrew Alligood, a junior from Saint
Johns, Fla., was three shots behind Knowles in second at 6-under 210.
Knowles opened with a sparkling 6-under 66 and added a
1-under 71 before finishing up with a 2-under 70. Alligood saved his best for
last, a 4-under 68, to claim runnerup honors. Only Alligood’s teammate Jack
Comstock, another junior home-boy from Jacksonville who was competing as an
individual, matched Alligood for the low round of the day.
No. 103 West Virginia held on with a final round of 4-over
292 for a runnerup finish at 1-over 865, 18 shots behind North Florida. No. 88
Virginia Tech fired a 1-under 287 in the final round to take third at 3-over
867, two shots behind the Mountaineers.
Host Furman, ranked 136th, shared fourth place
with South Carolina-Aiken, the No. 10 team in NCAA Division II, at 11-over 875,
eight shots behind Virginia Tech.
Yale, ranked 169th, was another four shots behind
Furman and South Carolina-Aiken in sixth place, the Bulldogs struggling to a
301 in the final round to finish at 15-over 879. Yale bested two Ivy League
rivals in the field as Dartmouth finished tied for 13th at 902 and
reigning Ivy champion Harvard was another shot behind the Big Green in 15th
at 903.
Backing up Knowles and Alligood for North Florida was
Michael Mattiace, a sophomore home-boy from Jacksonville, who was in a group of
three players tied for sixth at 3-under 213. Mattiace opened with a 3-under 69
before adding rounds of 71 and 73.
Trace, an NCAA individual qualifier a year ago, struggled in
the opening round with a 79, but settled in with rounds of 71 and 73 to finish
tied for 42nd at 223. Rounding out the lineup for the Ospreys was
Michael Saccente, a redshirt freshman from New Smyrna, Fla. who finished tied
for 48th, a shot behind Trace at 224. Saccente struggled in the
final round with a 5-over 77.
Comstock made his play for inclusion in North Florida’s
first five, that final-round 68 lifting him into the group tied for 22nd
at 3-over 219.
Host Furman had a player competing as an individual, Matt
Lehman, a sophomore from Bluffton, S.C., finish in a group of three players
tied for third in the individual chase at 4-under 212, two shots behind North
Florida’s Alligood. Lehman’s sizzling 7-under 65 in the second round was the
low round of the weekend. He opened with a 2-over 74 and closed with a 1-over
73.
Joining Lehman in that trio tied for third at 4-under 212
were Virginia Tech’s Ian Hildenbrand, a senior from Purcellville, Va., and West
Virginia’s Etienne Papineau, a sophomore from Canada. Hildenbrand finished
strong with a 3-under 69 while Papineau reached 4-under with a 3-under 69 in
the second round before matching par with a final-round 72.
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