The University of Rhode Island men’s golf team couldn’t complete a third consecutive comeback victory as it finished fourth out of 13 teams in the Nassau Intercollegiate this week.
The Rams went into Glen Cove, New York with two wins in as many tournaments during their fall season. However, after a three-week layoff, they fell behind early in round one on Monday with a team score of 13-over, which was 17 shots back of the lead held by Oklahoma Christian University.
“We just did not hit the ball particularly well and get the ball close enough to try and make birdies,” URI Head Coach Gregg Burke said. “You had to be really close to make birdies, the greens were flying.”
URI’s most steady presence through the opening round was first-year Luke Stennett, who produced a team-best score of one-over. Stennett was at one-under through 13 holes, but made a pair of late bogies that placed him at tied-fifth and five shots back of the lead.
As a team, Rhode Island was tied for third place following the first round. The competition worked on a quick turnaround, as the team went right back out later in the day on Monday for the second round of the tournament.
In round two, the Rams were highlighted by the performance of second-year Josiah Tong, who shot two-under and finished with the only under-par round of the tournament for the team. Tong made a double bogey on the seventh hole, but was able to surround that with six birdies to catapult to tied-fourth on the individual leaderboard – a jump of over 30 spots.
“No one hits the ball higher on our team than Josiah and he was able to get the ball close because he wasn’t getting a lot of roll out of it,” Burke said. “We need our fourth or fifth guys to do what Josiah did in that middle round.”
Third-year Aidan O’Donovan gave the team a score of two-over in round two and became the third member of the Rams inside the top 10 heading into the final day, along with Stennett and Tong.
Overall, URI shot a score of four-over in the second round on Monday, which was tied for the best round in the field with the University of Delaware. They made up 10 shots on their deficit of Oklahoma Christian and moved into second place by themselves.
“When you have to go 36 holes, you need to be incredibly physically fit and you need to be cardiovascularly fit so you make good decisions,” Burke said. “We were able to erase mistakes, that more than anything made the difference.”
The final round on Tuesday didn’t go to plan, however, as Rhode Island dropped to fourth place with a score of 19-over and fell 20 shots behind Oklahoma Christian. The Rams were plagued by six double bogeys or worse on Tuesday after making just four across the opening two rounds.
Stennett provided a bright spot, as he was able to steady the ship after a start of three-over through eight holes and came home with his second top-five of the year. He finished the tournament at six-over and tied-fourth, which marks the third straight top ten to begin his collegiate career.
“[Stennett] has every physical trait to play on the [Professional Golfers’ Association] Tour,” Burke said. “He’s the one kid on our team that can absolutely overpower a golf course.”
O’Donovan and Tong were unable to back up their strong rounds, making zero combined birdies on the final day. O’Donovan finished ten-over and dropped to tied-20th, while Tong fell to 12-over and tied-25th.
“The final round was just not good for us,” Burke said. “We had two very good players play 18 holes and not make one birdie.”
As for the rest of the team, first-year Tyler Bruneau had a chaotic final round of seven-over that included four birdies and three double bogeys to end his tournament at 13-over and tied-30th. Fifth-year Sean Magarian was unable to build momentum throughout the week and finished 20-over and tied-48th.
Next up, Rhode Island will have two tournaments in this upcoming week to close out their fall season. First, they will play a one-day tournament at the Ledgemont Match Play on Saturday before traveling to the Metropolitan Collegiate on Monday and Tuesday.