The University of Rhode Island men’s golf team got both an individual win from fifth-year Bryson Richards and a second-place finish as a team when they traveled to Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania for the Dragon Match Play Invitational this week.
As opposed to their normal structure of solely stroke play tournaments, this event incorporated an element of match play. The first two rounds, both played on Monday, were stroke play and would set the stage for the match play portion of the event on Tuesday, with the top four teams advancing to the championship bracket. Richards discussed his mindset heading into this unique event.
“I haven’t played a match play event since high school,” Richards said. “It is a little different because if you make that big number it doesn’t really matter as much, you’re only losing one hole.”
On Monday, the Rams got off to a tough start as they sat at nine-over par as a team after the opening nine holes. However, they were able to quickly respond with under-par second nines from Richards and first-year Josiah Tong. First-year Seb Carlsson, who was making just his second start of the spring season, also shot under-par on his second nine.
After round one on Monday, Rhode Island sat in second place at seven-over par. Individually, both Richards and Tong were in the top five at one-under and just two shots off the lead. With another 18 holes to go on the day, the Rams sat in a good spot to make the championship bracket, but their day would just get better from there.
Tong and Richards kept their momentum going in the beginning of round two with both of them making three birdies in their first seven holes. While Tong faltered a bit down the stretch, he still finished with another round of one-under and an overall finish of fourth place for the individual portion of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Richards continued to rack up birdies throughout his second round. He made birdies in five of his final eight holes for a round of seven-under, good for the best score by any Rhode Island player this season. This put him at the top of the individual leaderboard by two shots and gave him his third individual win of the season.
“Bryson showed just how talented he is, but showed as much what a competitor he is,” URI Head Coach Gregg Burke said. “He was down six with eight to play and won by two, that is incredible.”
Rhode Island shot a second round score of four-under as a team, improving their first round score by 11 shots, and secured the two seed in the match play portion of the tournament. Following these 36 holes, the team had a quick turnaround to prepare for their semifinal matchup against St. Bonaventure University on Tuesday morning.
The Rams were in a hole before they even began the match, as they had to forfeit first-year Tony Liu’s match due to a disqualification on day one. Therefore, they would need to win three of the four matches to move on. However, they got off to exactly the start that they needed on Tuesday morning as Richards, first-year Owen Rooney and Tong all jumped out to a lead through nine holes.
Carlsson, the lone member of the team who trailed after the front nine, won three straight holes to tie his match on the 13th hole, though ultimately lost 2 and 1. Richards held on to his slim lead throughout the back nine to secure a one-up victory. Meanwhile, Rooney lost the final three holes of his match and it ended all-square.
This put Tong in a spot where he needed to win his match in order to force a tiebreaker. In a back-and-forth battle down the stretch, Tong was able to win the final hole of the match and get a one-up victory, keeping the chances alive for Rhode Island to move on to the championship match.
“Josiah hit a huge putt on 18 in the semifinal to get us in a playoff,” Burke said. “He is beginning to show just how good he will be.”
In the tiebreaker, Richards won the first hole to defeat St. Bonaventure and clinch a spot in the championship, where they would take on Drexel University. Following the competition, Burke said that the semifinal match exemplified the thrills of a match play format.
“We loved the format, it’s why we accepted the invitation,” Burke said. “Match play gets the juices flowing.”
Once again, the Rams got out to a lead in three of the four matches after the opening nine holes in the championship. Carlsson and Tong both never trailed throughout their matches against Drexel and locked up two of the three wins that Rhode Island needed.
“Josiah all day and Seb in the final were huge for us,” Burke said. “That really bodes well for the future.”
The championship ultimately came down to Richards’ match. He once held a commanding five hole lead, but eventually the match was all-square heading to the final three holes. After halving the 16th and 17th holes, fourth-year Griffin Mitchell won the final hole of the day over Richards to win the championship match for Drexel.
“We were in commanding position for most of the final,” Burke said. “But, we really let it slip away from us at the end.”
Rhode Island will now turn their attention to The Rutherford Intercollegiate hosted by Pennsylvania State University this weekend as one final tune-up tournament before the Atlantic 10 Championship on April 26-28.