Giantsopoulos captures individual title to lead Drexel to team crown in Don Benbow Invitational

    Playing in just its second tournament of a wraparound 2020-2021 season shortened to just the spring of 2021 by the coronavirus pandemic, Drexel, behind individual champion Angelo Giantsopoulos, a  senior from Canada, captured the team title in the Don Benbow Invitational, which wrapped up Tuesday at the Jacksonville Beach Golf Course in Jacksonville Beach, Fla. by a whopping 24 shots.

   There were only 10 teams and none of them would be considered a national power, but a win is a win. Drexel opened with a 16-over-par 300 over the 6,750-yard, par-71 Jacksonville Beach layout, the best score of Monday’s first round. The Dragons then backed that up with a 1-over 285, the only team round of the tournament under 300, in Tuesday’s final round that left them with a 17-over 885 total.

   Pretty sure the wind was blowing about as hard it was for the PGA Tour guys in Sunday’s final round at Bay Hill and none of the PGA Tour guys broke 71. You know how often there’s a round on the PGA Tour in which the low score is 71? Basically, never.

   I think the wind backed off a little for Tuesday’s second round, but Giantsopoulos was the only player under par in the opening round with a 1-under 70 that gave him a two-shot lead. He matched par in Tuesday’s final round with a 71 that gave him a 1-under 141 total and a two-shot victory over his teammate and fellow senior Alex Butler, a member of St. Joseph’s Prep’s 2014 PIAA Class AAA championship team. It was the first college tournament victory for Giantsopoulos.

   Drexel had closed the fall portion of the ill-fated wraparound 2019-’20 season with a team victory in the one-day City 6 Championship on a chilly day at Huntingdon Valley Country Club behind individual champion Connor Schmidt, the Peters Township product who won the 2018 Pennsylvania Amateur crown at the A.W. Tillinghast classic at Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown.

   It had to have Drexel feeling good going into the spring of 2020, but the Dragons never made it to the Colonial Athletic Association Championship as the pandemic shut down college golf in mid-March. Drexel was still unable to compete in the fall of 2020 due to pandemic concerns.

   The Dragons finally got back on the course in last week’s Sea Palms Invitational on St. Simons Island, Ga. Predictably, Drexel struggled, finishing 13^th in the 16-team field, but a few days later, the Dragons, with many of the same players from that City 6 Championship lineup, were ready.

   The Big East’s Butler had opened with a solid 303 and trailed Drexel by only three shots heading into Tuesday’s final round, but the Bulldogs could only manage a 306 that left them with a 41-over 609 total, 24 shots behind the Dragons. Evansville added a 304 to its opening-round 308 to finish three shots behind Butler in third place with a 44-over 312 total.

   Murray State shaved four shots off its opening-round 312 with a 308 in Tuesday’s final round to finish eight shots behind Evansville in fourth place with a 52-over 620 total. Detroit Mercy bounced back from an opening-round 323 with the second-best team score of Tuesday’s final round, a 302, to end up five shots behind Murray State in fifth place in the 10-team field with a 57-over 625 total.

   Drexel’s Butler opened with a 2-over 73 and trailed his teammate Giantsopoulos by just three shots heading into Tuesday’s final round. He finished up with a 1-under 70 to earn runnerup honors with a 1-over 143 total, two shots behind Giantsopoulos.

   Jeffrey Cunningham, a senior from West Palm Beach, Fla., also contributed a 1-under 70 to Drexel’s strong final-round showing after opening with a 78 in Monday’s first round for a 6-over 148 total that left him in a three-way tie for fourth place.

   Senior Stephen Cerbara, the 2015 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Holy Ghost Prep, and Schmidt, who accepted the NCAA's offer of a fifth year of eligibility to make up for the spring that was stolen by the pandemic, both landed among the group tied for 16^th place at 14-over 156. Cerbara bounced back from an opening-round 82 with a solid 3-over 74 in Tuesday’s final round. Schmidt, who finished in a tie for fifth place in the last CAA Championship that was contested at the Pinehurst Resort’s No. 8 Course in the spring of 2019, added a 77 to his opening-round 79.

   Drexel also got a strong showing from Bank Apinyawuttikul, a freshman from Thailand who competed as an individual. Apinyawuttikul, who had earned a spot in the starting lineup in the season opener at Sea Palms, added a solid 3-over 74 to his opening-round 79 and landed among the group tied for 11^th place at 11-over 153.

   Butler’s Raymond Sullivan, a junior from Lemont, Ill., finished four shots behind Drexel’s Butler in third place with a 5-over 147 total. Sullivan was Giantsopoulos’ closest pursuer after opening with a solid 1-over 72 before finishing up with a 4-over 75.

   Joining Drexel’s Cunningham in the three-way tie for fourth place at 6-over 148, a shot behind Sullivan, were Sullivan’s Butler teammate, Michael Cascino, a senior from Palos Park, Ill., and Detroit Mercy’s James Hill, a junior from Canada. Cascino added a solid 1-over 72 to his opening-round 76 while Hill, after struggling to an opening-round 78, finished up with a 1-under 70.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the individual standings were four players who finished in a tie for seventh place at 10-over 152, including two Murray State players, Walker Beck, a sophomore from Newburgh, Ind. who was competing as an individual, and Avery Edwards, a senior from Paducah, Ky., as well as Purdue Fort Wayne’s Kasey Lilly, a sophomore from Plainfield, Ind., and Evansville’s Isaac Rohleder, a sophomore home boy from Evansville, Ind.

   Beck carded a solid 2-over 73 in Tuesday’s final round after opening with a 79 while his teammate Edwards also improved from an opening-round 78 with a 3-over 74 Tuesday. Lilly added a 4-over 75 to his opening-round 77 and Rohleder fell back a little after opening with a 3-over 74 by closing with a 78.