Davis leads the way as Penn State takes fifth straight Rutherford Intercollegiate team crown

   Penn State head coach Greg Nye got a little bit of a glimpse of the kind of team he thought he had all along in this weekend’s Rutherford Intercollegiate hosted by the Nittany Lions at Penn State’s Blue Course.

   After taking control of the team race with a sparkling 6-under-par 278 over the 7,219-yard, par-71 Blue Course layout in the second round of Saturday’s double-round, the Nittany Lions battled some rainy weather and a couple of challenges to post a 6-over 290 in Sunday’s final round for a two-shot victory over Eastern Michigan.

   For Penn State, No. 72 in the latest Golfstat rankings, it was its fifth straight team crown in the Rutherford Intercollegiate. The Nittany Lions close out the regular season with a trip to Columbus, Ohio next weekend for the Kepler Intercollegiate at The Ohio State University’s Scarlet Course, one of the finest campus courses in America, conceptualized by Alister MacKenzie and built by Perry Maxwell.

   Then they’ll be headed to Philadelphia for the Big Ten Championship and another date with a classic golf course, the A.W. Tillinghast-designed Wissahickon Course at Philadelphia Cricket Club. The Big Ten Championship tees off April 26.

   Sunday’s final-round 290 left Penn State with a 3-over 855 total. Eastern Michigan, which trailed the Nittany Lions by a shot after Saturday’s double-round, posted a solid 7-over 291 in Sunday’s final round for a 5-over 857 total that left it two shots behind Penn State in second place.

   West Virginia, at No. 47 the highest-ranked team in the field, had the best team round of the day Sunday, a 1-under 283, to finish third at 10-over 862.

   Connecticut, behind individual champion Drake Hull, a junior from Rutland, Vt., carded a 7-over 291 in the final round to take fourth at 11-over 863, a shot behind West Virginia. Seton Hall was another 10 shots behind Connecticut in fifth place in the 13-team field at 21-over 873 after a final round of 6-over 290.

   Four members of Penn State’s starting lineup this weekend were in the lineup two years ago when Penn State finished fifth in the NCAA’s Washington Regional and earned a trip to the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms.

   Ryan Davis, a junior from Berkeley Heights, N.J. and the reigning Metropolitan Golf Association Amateur champion, led the way this weekend, carding a third straight 1-under 70 Sunday to finish alone in third place in the individual standings at 3-under 210, two shots behind Hull.

   Senior JD Hughes, who starred scholastically at Carlisle, carded a final round of 2-over 73 to finish among the group tied for 16^th at 4-over 217.

   Charles Huntzinger, a senior from Duluth, Ga., and Alec Bard, a junior from New Hartford, N.Y., both ended up in the group tied for 19^th place at 5-over 218. Bard carded a 5-over 76 in the final round and Huntzinger’s 6-over 77 was a throw-out.

   Senior Ryan Dornes, the 2014 PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Manheim Township, had his best round of the weekend as he matched par with a 71 Sunday to finish among the group tied for 28^th at 7-over 220.

   Dornes was playing as well as anyone in the Penn State lineup in the spring of 2017 when an injury halted his season. The play of the two freshmen then, Davis and Bard, and Hughes, a sophomore who had just joined the program that season, enabled the Nittany Lions to not only survive the injury to Dornes, but to thrive as they reached the NCAA Championship as a team for the first time since 2010.

   Huntzinger has been a fixture in the Penn State lineup since he arrived in Happy Valley in the fall of 2015.

   It is certainly an experienced group, one that probably senses that strong showings in the Kepler and in the Big Ten Championship might be necessary to assure the Nittany Lions a spot when the NCAA regional bids go out.

   As usual, Nye sent out some of his youngsters to compete as individuals in the Rutherford Intercollegiate and sophomore Louis Olsakovsky, an Upper St. Clair product, seized the opportunity to finish among the four players tied for fourth at 2-under 211.

   Olsakovsky surged into contention for the individual title with a sparkling 4-under 67 in Saturday afternoon’s second round before falling back a little in the final round with a 1-over 72.

   Sophomore Lukas Clark, a former Council Rock South standout, finished up with a solid 2-over 73 to finish in the group tied for 35^th at 9-over 222. Ryan Lee, a freshman from Norwood, N.J. making his college debut, was another shot behind Clark among the group tied for 37^th at 223.

   James McHugh, a sophomore from Rye, N.Y., closed with a 4-over 75 to land in the group tied for 52^nd at 226. Freshman Hunter Bruce, who finished in a tie for second in the 2017 PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Peters Township, carded a final-round 77 to finish in the group tied for 69^th at 234. Like Lee, Bruce was making his college debut.

   Connecticut’s Hull was part of a group of five players tied for third, two shots behind the leader, Rutgers’ Christopher Gotterup, a sophomore from Little Silver, N.J., after Saturday’s double-round. Hull, however, closed with a 3-under 68 to capture the individual title, the first of his college career, with a 5-under 208 total.

   William & Mary senior David Hicks, who starred scholastically at Middle Township at the Jersey Shore, posted a second straight 2-under 69 to finish alone in second place at 4-under 209.

   Somehow I missed Loyola of Maryland sophomore Evan Brown, one of the Ches-Mont League’s top players during his scholastic career at Kennett, in my roundup of Saturday’s double-round. Brown has made himself hard to miss this spring as he has strung together several top-five performances.

   He did it again Sunday, firing a 4-under 67 to join the foursome tied for fourth at 2-under 211, a group that included Penn State’s Olsakovsky.

   Rounding out that group at 211 were Rutgers’ Gotterup and West Virginia’s Matthew Sharpstene, a sophomore form Charlotte, N.C. Gotterup carded a 2-over 73 after taking a one-shot lead in the individual chase into the final round. Sharpstene charged up the leaderboard with the best individual round of the weekend, a sizzling 5-under 66.

   Rounding out the top 10 was a trio of players – West Virginia’s Etienne Papineau, a junior from Canada, Connecticut’s Jimmy Hervol, a senior from Hopkinton, Mass., and Eastern Michigan’s Ty Celone, a sophomore from Canada – that shared ninth place at even-par 213.

   Papineau and Hervol each matched par in the final round with a 71 while Celone closed with a 2-over 73.

   Cornell’s Noah Schwartz, a former Penn Charter standout who has a solid  freshman season with the Big Red, struggled to an 81 in Sunday’s final round to finish among the group tied for 73^rd at 237.