Last week Chris Francoeur received Atlantic-10 Co-Golfer of the Week for his stellar play at the Cape Fear National Intercollegiate.
Francoeur paced the Rams in this tournament, finishing with the best score of both a Rhode Island golfer and the field in general, taking home individual honors. The Rams as a team also won the tournament. Francoeur shot a combined even par for the tournament, including a two under par 70 in the second round of the tournament, which was tied for his best round ever as a Rhode Island Ram.
“Going into the year I wanted to get that first win,” said Francoeur. “Getting that first one always makes the next one and ones in the future easier.”
He was just able to beat out Bobby Dunphy of South Carolina Beaufort, and teammate Dawson Jones for the individual win. Dunphy and Jones both tied for second, with a score of one over par.
“My ball striking is the best part of my game,” said Francoeur. “My mid irons and my short irons are probably my strongest. I definitely need to work on putting. Even though I won, I definitely could have made a lot more putts.”
A native of Amesbury, Massachusetts, Francoeur is currently a sophomore at URI. In high school, he attended St. John’s Prep in Danvers, Massachusetts, where he played both golf and baseball and was a dual captain his senior year. He lead St. John’s to four Catholic Conference titles, and also helping win two seperate state championships in golf. When it was all said and done at St. John’s, Francoeur also was the holder of the third best nine hole scoring average in school history, at a mark of just over 35.5.
“Playing high school golf at the highest level prepared me,” said Francoeur. “It made it so I knew I could compete at the highest level.”
As a freshman at Rhody, Francoeur received the distinction of A-10 Rookie of the Week on four separate occasions. Three of these occasions occurred back-to back-to back as he received the award three straight weeks from April 5 to April 20.
“It was a good feeling,” said Francoeur. “Winning four last year was nice, I set it as one of my goals going into the season that I wanted to win the A-10 player of the week, in addition to winning the rookie awards.”
He placed fourth at the Rhode Island Invitational, tied for 14th at both the Villanova Wildcat Invitational and also the Atlantic 10 Championship. Francoeur was also the best finisher for the Rams in the Quechee Club Collegiate Challenge, finishing in a tie for No. 23. He played in all nine URI tournaments as a freshman, and ended his first year campaign with six finishes within the top 25. Francoeur was also named New England Rookie of the Year last year.