Tough weekend for Temple in Furman Intercollegiate

   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 70^th was indicative of a tough weekend for the Owls. They finished 20^th 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 14^th 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 28^th.

   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 86^th 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 91^st 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 101^st 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 110^th 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 85^th, 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 136^th, 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 169^th, 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 13^th at 902 and reigning Ivy champion Harvard was another shot behind the Big Green in 15^th 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 42^nd at 223. Rounding out the lineup for the Ospreys was Michael Saccente, a redshirt freshman from New Smyrna, Fla. who finished tied for 48^th, 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 22^nd 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.