Gillis finishes first individually
Brandon Gillis won the tournament individually, finishing eight under for the weekend. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
The University of Rhode Island Golf team capped off their dominant fall semester with a third place finish out of a field of 14 at the UConn Invitational at Greathorse. St. John’s took the tournament (+21), edging out Seton Hall (+25) and Rhode Island (+27).
Brandon Gillis led the team once again with one of his best performances of the season, an 8-under first place finish, recording the tournament record.
Day one left URI with a small deficit of four strokes, where they sat tied for third. Gillis led the field by one stroke after tallying the only under par round on the first day, a 1-under 71. Aidan O’Donovan sat slightly further down the standings finishing with a 5-over 77.
Day two saw Rhody make a jump up to second in the standings catapulted by a tournament low 4-under 68 from Gillis, keeping him in first place by a sustained margain.
O’Donovan improved as well on day two, lowering his final score to a 3-over 75, as Bryson Richards and Chuck Tragesser matched him, allowing URI to jump over UConn into the runner-up position.
Day three was a more mediocre day for Rhode Island shooting a 294, the seventh best in the field for the day. This slip saw the team give up their second place position to Seton Hall, as they inevitably ended up finishing third for the tournament.
Gillis tied for the best score of the day once again, a 3-under 69. O’Donovan shot his best round of the tournament, an even-par 72. However those two scores were not enough to keep Rhody afloat.
Gillis’ performance this weekend was an impressive showing of composure and consistency, battling a course plagued by rain and wind. He attributes his performance to how he handled the conditions.
“The conditions were tough so that helped me separate myself from the rest of the field. I think that played a major part in [the victory], and my course management was on point,” Gillis said. “I just tried not to make too many mistakes out there.”
The obvious key to Rhode Island’s success this fall has been Gillis. Through only 5 events, his three top-3 finishes ties his tally for the entire 2021-22 season. With only his 2nd career win coming this past week, Gillis is hoping that this dominant stretch can continue in the Spring.
“I’m actually kind of bummed out that the season is over,” Gillis said. “I feel like I’ve been trending since the summer and I’m going to keep playing and keep practicing but I feel confident going into the spring and hopefully I can keep the scoring average as low if not try and get it even lower in the spring.”
Entering the cold winter months will definitely serve as a challenge to Rhode Island as they attempt to keep the rust away from their games during their time away from competition.
However the team looks to return to the top of the leaderboards again when springtime rolls around.