With impressive individual champion Donnie Trosper, a senior
from Canton, Mich., leading the way, Michigan State, No. 69 in the latest Golfstat rankings, held on for a
six-shot victory in the Colleton River Collegiate, which concluded Tuesday at
the Colleton River Club’s Pete Dye Course in Bluffton, S.C.
The Spartans had built a four-shot lead with rounds of
6-under 282 and 7-under 281 in Monday’s double-round and finished it off with a
solid 1-over 289 over the 7,196-yard, par-72 Pete Dye Course layout that left
them with a 12-under 852 total. There wasn’t a whole lot of mention of weather,
but it had to be chilly.
Michigan State hosts the Colleton River Collegiate and the
Spartans obviously seem to save some of their best stuff for the event. The win
should have them moving up in the Golfstat
rankings.
And Michigan State got a really strong showing from one of
its seniors. Trosper led the field through 36 holes with rounds of 3-under 69
and 5-under 67 Monday, but his advantage was just a shot. But he bettered par
again Tuesday with a 2-under 70 for a 10-under 206 total and a three-shot
victory over Iowa’s Alex Schaake, a junior from Omaha, Neb.
Iowa State, at No. 45 the highest-ranked team in the field,
carded a final round of 3-over 291 to finish a solid second at 6-under 858. The
Cyclones, out of the Big 12, made a huge move with the best team round of the
tournament, a 13-under 275 in Monday afternoon’s second round, to get into
contention.
No. 108 Kansas State, another Big 12 entry, outperformed its
ranking as the Wildcats matched par in the final round with a 288 to finish
third at 4-over 868, 10 shots behind Iowa State.
No. 47 Iowa finished up with a final round of 4-over 292 to
take fourth place at 5-over 869, a shot behind Kansas State.
No. 60 Penn State made it a third Big Ten team in the top
five as the Nittany Lions battled to a final round of 7-over 295 for a 13-over
877 total that left them alone in fifth place in the 14-team field, eight shots
behind the Hawkeyes.
Backing up Trosper for Michigan State was fellow Canton,
Mich. resident James Piot, a sophomore who matched par in the final round and
finished tied for fifth at 4-under 212. Andrew Walker, a junior from Battle
Creek, Mich., had a final round of 1-over 73 to join the group tied for 15th
at 2-over 218.
Kaleb Johnson, a junior from Naples, Fla., backed off in the
final round with a throw-out 76, but finished among the group tied for 23rd
at 4-over 220. Rounding out the Michigan State lineup was Troy Taylor II, a
freshman from Westerville, Ohio who closed with a 2-over 74 to finish among the
group tied for 43rd at 8-over 224. Both of Taylor’s final two rounds
were counters.
Iowa’s Schaake finished up with a 1-under 71 to get it to
7-under 209 and claim runnerup honors in the individual chase, three shots
behind Trosper.
Iowa State’s Lachlan Barker, a sophomore from Australia,
carded a 1-over 73 in Tuesday’s final round, but finished third at 6-under 210,
a shot behind Shaake. Barker had matched the low individual round of the
tournament with a sizzling 7-under 65 in Monday afternoon’s second round.
Wisconsin’s Jordan Hahn, a senior from Spring Grove, Ill.,
had the best round of the day Tuesday, a 3-under 69 that vaulted him to a
fourth-place finish at 5-under 211, a shot behind Barker.
Barker’s teammate, Trip Kinney, a junior from Waukee, Iowa,
joined Michigan State’s Poit in the tie for fifth at 4-under 212 after Kinney
matched par in the final round with a 72.
Kansas State’s Jacob Eklund, a junior from Carbondale, Ill.,
also matched par in the final round with a 72 as he finished alone in seventh
at 3-under 213.
Eklund’s teammate, senior Roland Massimino, the 2014 PIAA
Class AA runnerup as a senior at New Hope-Solebury, shared eighth place with
Georgia Southern’s Scott Barron, a junior from Suwanee, Ga., at 2-under 214.
Both Massimino and Barron finished up with a 1-over 73.
Penn State was led by senior JD Hughes, who starred
scholastically at Carlisle and won the 2017 Pennsylvania Amateur at White Manor
Country Club. Hughes had surged into the top 10 on the strength of a 5-under 67
in the second round. He closed with a 2-over 74 to finish among the group tied
for 10th at even-par 216.
Ryan Davis, a junior from Berkeley Heights, N.J., finished
up with a 2-over 74 to join the group tied for 15th at 2-over 218.
Alec Bard, a junior from New Hartford, N.Y., had Penn State’s best round of the
day Tuesday, an even-par 72 that got him in the group tied for 23rd
at 4-over 220.
Senior Ryan Dornes, the 2014 PIAA Class AAA runnerup at
Manheim Township, closed with a 3-over 75 to finish among the group tied for 43rd
at 8-over 224. Charles Huntzinger, a
senior from Duluth, Ga., struggled on the Pete Dye Course, finishing up with
his second straight 3-over 75 to end up in the group tied for 57th
at 227.
James McHugh, a sophomore from Rye, N.Y., competed as an
individual and had a great day Monday with a pair of 71s in the double-round.
He faltered in Tuesday’s final round with an 86 that left him tied for 60th
at 228. Still, that Monday showing was something to build on.
I’m sure Penn State coach Greg Nye was happy to get a full
54-hole tournament in after the Nittany Lions saw two of their fall events
cancelled when they kept running into hurricane remnants.
It wasn’t Penn State’s best performance and it wasn’t its
worst. The Nittany Lions’ next stop is the Linger Longer Collegiate
Invitational, which tees off March 15 in Greensboro, Ga.
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