The University of Rhode Island men’s golf team began its spring season with a top-five finish at the World Golf Village Collegiate in St. Augustine, Florida this week.
Coming off a fall season where they had four wins in the span of five tournaments, the most overall wins for the program since the 2016-17 season, Rhody kicked off their spring slate on Monday. The tournament was originally scheduled to be a three-round event, however the final round was cancelled on Tuesday due to unplayable conditions, and it became a 36-hole event.
Rhody got off to a tough start in the opening round and spent much of Monday morning near the bottom of the 16-team field. The Rams shot 26-over in the first round, putting them in 11th place and 19 shots back of the lead. They improved upon that score by 23 shots in the second round to work themselves up the leaderboard.
“The first eight, nine, 10 holes were definitely rust,” URI Head Coach Gregg Burke said. “Not only did we not play outside [prior to this tournament], we came down here and played on bermuda grass; that’s an entirely different game. Chipping and putting is entirely different, so it took us a while to get used to that.”
First-year Luke Stennett was the lone member of the team inside the top 20 on the individual leaderboard following the opening round. Stennett had a rollercoaster of a back nine, not making a par following the 10th hole, and collecting six bogeys, two birdies and an eagle. Ultimately, it was a round of two-over, which placed him tied-ninth and four shots off the lead.
Rhode Island was plagued by its inability to avoid the big numbers in the first round, combining for six double bogeys or worse. On the par-four sixth hole alone, the five players combined to shoot eight-over.
The Rams steadied the ship in the second round on Monday afternoon, shooting the second-best score in the field at three-over. This was led by the play of Stennett, who had a much less chaotic round, only making two bogeys on his way to a round of one-under. The round moved him up to tied-fourth on the individual leaderboard, marking his third top-five finish of his career.
“[Stennett] is our best player,” Burke said. “It’s unfair to say it quite this way, but we expect it of him.”
Following a rough start to his first round, shooting nine-over in the opening six holes, first-year Tyler Bruneau bounced back and was able to catapult 32 spots up the individual leaderboard in round two. He shot even on his final 24 holes of the day and ended up finishing at 11-over and tied for 47th for the tournament.
“[Bruneau] made an eight [on the sixth hole], and then for the next 26 holes, he’s only one-over,” Burke said. “That’s big-time golf right there, and we need him to get that grit to hang in there when you’re not playing well.”
Third-year Aidan O’Donovan also used a late surge, making three consecutive birdies down the stretch in round two, to move his way up the leaderboard. He finished the tournament at four-over and in a tie for 11th place.
Despite the strong finish, the Rams still came up 28 shots behind the winners of the tournament, the University of North Florida. Rhody ended up tied for fifth at 29-over, which marks their lowest finish of the 2024-25 season.
“We need each player to prepare himself to play better,” Burke said. “We had a number of players on this trip that missed easy details in preparing for this trip that cost us a lot of strokes.”
Rhode Island gets a month-long layoff before its next tournament, but the preparation will continue. The team will take a trip down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in a couple of weeks to solidify what their lineup will look like for the remainder of the spring season, according to Burke.
“We’re going to go down [to Myrtle Beach], and we’re going to practice for eight days, and we’re going to have some good qualifying,” Burke said. “My expectations are super high because we’re so strong one through six.”
The Rams will return to action on March 24 when they take part in the Golden Horseshoe Intercollegiate in Williamsburg, Virginia.
