Villanova's Peck finishes second, Rhode Island claims team crown in Rolling Green Intercollegiate

    Villanova’s Noah Peck, a junior from Hunt Valley, Md., finished second in the individual standings and Rhode Island, with two of the three players who finished in a tie for third place leading the way, captured the team crown in the Rolling Green Intercollegiate, a one-day shootout staged Saturday at the William Flynn gem in Springfield, Delaware County that was hosted by Nary.

   Saturday dawned downright cold, but turned into a decent day for golf on a Rolling Green layout that played host to the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. Not that anybody in the 13-team field -- the host Middies had two full teams in the field – was complaining considering this time last year college golf had been completely shut down by the coronavirus pandemic.

   Peck was one of just two players to bring it under par as he carded a 1-under-par 69 over the challenging 6,941-yard, par-70 Rolling Green layout to earn runnerup honors behind Monmouth’s Erik Stevens, a sophomore from Annandale, N.J. who fired a 2-under 68 that was a career-low round and earned him his first collegiate victory.

   The Rhode Island pair of Bryson Richards, a sophomore from Plainfield, Vt., and Brandon Gillis, a redshirt junior from Nashua, N.H., each matched par with a 70 at Rolling Green to finish among a trio tied for third place as they helped the Rams post a 5-over 285 team total that gave them a two-shot margin over Monmouth and Bucknell and the team crown.

   Monmouth, behind individual champion Stevens, posted a solid 7-over 287 to share second place with Bucknell, Navy’s Patriot League rival. Monmouth plays in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

   Peck helped Villanova, a Big East entry, finish in a tie for fourth place with City 6 rival Saint Joseph’s, another Atlantic 10 entry, and Lafayette, out of the Patriot League, each landing on 13-over 293, six shots behind Monmouth and Bucknell.

   A third City 6 team, La Salle, another Atlantic 10 entry, teed it up at Rolling Green and the Explorers finished in 10^th place in the 13-team field with a 21-over 301 total.

   Backing up Richards and Gillis for Rhode Island, an Atlantic 10 entry, was Chris Francoeur, the Rams’ veteran senior from Amesbury, Mass. who registered a solid 1-over 71 to join a group of six players who finished in a tie for sixth place.

   Rhode Island’s final counter came from Andrew DiPetrillo, a sophomore from Dover, Mass. who finished among the group tied for 25^th place with a 4-over 74. DiPetrillo was having back spasms and couldn’t play in Friday’s practice round when the conditions made it feel more like mid-February in the Philadelphia area, but he gutted it out in the early-spring cold to come up big for the Rams. Teams had six-man lineups with the top four scores counting toward the team total.

   Austin Fox, a junior from Delmar, N.Y., finished a shot behind DePetrillo for Rhode Island in the group tied for 34^th place with a 5-over 75. Rounding out the Rhode Island lineup was Jordan Brajcich, a senior from Mill Creek, Wash. who ended up in the group tied for 61^st place with a 79.

   Joining Rhode Island’s Richards and Gillis in the trio of players tied for third place at even-par 70 was Bucknell’s Blake Wisdom, a sophomore from Lake Geneva, Wis.

   The large group that joined Rhode Island’s Francoeur in the tie for sixth place at 1-over 71 included a couple of familiar names of recent scholastic and junior golf vintage in the Philadelphia area.

   One of those was Monmouth senior Ron Robinson, a North Penn product who earned his ninth-career top-10 finish in a solid career with the Hawks. Robinson was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in 2016 as a senior at North Penn and appeared on leaderboards in a lot of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s junior events. Robinson was joined at 1-over by teammate Brendan Smith, a junior from Sayville, N.Y.

   Also carding a 71 at Rolling Green was Lehigh sophomore David Hurly, a major contributor to back-to-back Inter-Ac League championship teams at The Haverford School in 2017 and 2018. That 2018 edition of the Fords made a perfect 30-0-0 run through the always tough Inter-Ac. Hurly, a Newtown Square resident, is a native of South Africa.

   Rounding out the group tied for sixth place were Lafayette’s Kazuki Osawa, a junior from Belgium, and Georgetown’s Will O’Neill, a junior from Morristown, N.J.

   Five more players finished in a tie for 12^th place at 2-over 72, including the Lafayette pair of senior Ryan Tall, the former Conestoga standout and the winner of GAP’s Junior Boys’ Championship in 2018, and senior Cole Berger, a Westtown School product.

   Bucknell also had two players in the quintet tied for 12^th place, including senior Chris Tanabe, the 2016 PIAA Class AA champion as a senior at Quaker Valley who was so impressive in winning the Pennsylvania Amateur title two summers ago at Aronimink Golf Club. Tanabe’s fellow Leopard, Jack Gardner, a sophomore from San Ramon, Calif., also landed in the tie for 12^th place with a 72.

   Rounding out the group at 72 was St. Peter’s Jeffrey Peters, a senior from Staatsburg, N.Y.

   Backing up Peck for Villanova were graduate student Ambrose Abbracciamento of Newtown and Peter Weaver, a freshman from Frontenac, Md., both of whom landed in the group tied for 25^th place as each carded a 4-over 74. Abbracciamentio had spent the last couple of seasons at San Diego State, but decided to come home to take the extra year of eligibility offered by the NCAA to make up for the spring of 2020 lost to the pandemic on the Main Line.

   Senior Max Siegfried, who starred scholastically at The Haverford School, Reb Banas, a senior from Winnetka, Ill., and Matt Minerva, a sophomore from Elmsford, N.Y., all finished in the group tied for 38^th place at 6-over 76 for the Wildcats.

   Saint Joseph’s was led by a trio of players who finished among the group tied for 17^th place at 3-over 73, including senior Wills Montgomery, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in 2016 as a senior at Downingtown East, junior J.T. Spina, who was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in each of his last two seasons at Pope John Paul II, and Matt Avery, a junior from Avon, Conn.

   Freshman Kevin Smith, who led Strath Haven to the program’s first Central League and District One Class AAA team titles in the fall of 2019, was the final counter for the Hawks as he landed in the group tied for 25^th place with a 4-over 74. Smith was playing not far from his home course at The Springhaven Club, another Flynn design in Delaware County.

   James Gannon, a freshman from Greenville, S.C., finished in the group tied for 38^th place with a 76 and Austin Steckler, a freshman from Glen Arm, Md., rounded out the St. Joe’s lineup as he finished among the group tied for 67^th place with an 80.

   Leading the way for La Salle was Ron Fischang, a senior from McKinney, Texas who signed for a 3-over 73 that left him in the group tied for 17^th place. Kristian Fortis, a sophomore from Key Largo, Fla., finished a shot behind Fischang in the group tied for 25^th place with a 4-over 74.

   Junior Parker Wine, a scholastic standout at Unionville, posted a 76 to finish among the group tied for 38^th place. Matthew Werner, a junior from West Linn, Ore., had the final counter for the Explorers with a 78 that left him in the group tied for 54^th place.

   Sophomore Karsen Rush, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in 2017 as a junior at Chambersburg, carded a 79 to land in the group tied for 61^st place. Rounding out the La Salle lineup was senior David Kim, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in 2016 as a senior at Upper Dublin who struggled to an 85 to finish alone in 74^th place.