The University of Rhode Island men’s golf team returned to action on Monday for the first time since Feb. 10, traveling to Daytona Beach, Fla., for the Sam Ryder Invitational at the LPGA International Golf Club, hosted by Stetson University.
“The downtime in between really meant nothing,” URI Golf Head Coach Gregg Burke said. “We were really used to working out indoors, hitting balls off the simulator into the batting barns.”
Taking place across two days, the event featured 14 colleges and universities. Notably, Stetson is the No. 95-ranked program in the nation according to Scoreboard, and Florida Atlantic University is the No. 99-ranked program in the nation.
On day one, Rhode Island was grouped with Lipscomb University, Baylor University and Campbell University. Five Rams, second-year Luke Stennett, fourth-year Aidan O’Donovan, third-year Josiah Tong, second-year Tyler Bruneau and third-year Tony Liu worked together to sit seven over par.
Monday featured two 18-hole rounds. In the first round, Rhode Island was 19 strokes over par, and the team was 24 strokes behind Stetson, at five under.
The second round was better as Rhode Island cut 12 strokes off the team score. Rhody, Campbell, and James Madison University were tied for the fifth-lowest score of the second round. Tong was five under par, and Bruneau shot even par to balance the Rams’ performance.
Rhode Island finished the day 10th out of 14 teams in a tournament with some of the nations top ranked programs. Stetson was the only team under par.
“We didn’t execute as well; we certainly didn’t have the focus like the others did,” Burke said. “[Stetson and Florida Atlantic] were more ready to compete than we were.”
The second day saw Rhode Island plus-14, finishing the day tied for 11th out of the 14 schools.
Rhode Island was powered by Bruneau, who went two under over his final 11 holes to move up the individual leaderboard by 11 spots to tie for 20th in the 84-player field. Tong finished plus-seven to tie for 30th place.
Coming into the tournament, the team had high expectations for themselves, according to Burke.
“We were equal to any team there, talent-wise,” Burke said. There’s not a doubt in my mind, we had as much talent as any team in the field.”
Moving forward, Rhode Island looks to regroup and evaluate.
“At the end of the day, it’s doing the little things,” Burke said. “I say to the guys multiple times a week, you can only do the great things well if you’ve done the little things well on and off the golf course. We’re going to try to change that.”
Continuing a warm-weather trend, the Rams resume activity this Monday at the Surf Golf and Beach Club Invitational in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., hosted by Appalachian State University, who Rhody finished tied with on Tuesday.
“We know the golf course, that’s a positive to the guys who have played the golf course in competition,” Burke said. “ To win it, we’re going to have to play very well. We have the ability to overpower this golf course, but we need to be on time for things, take care of academics and do the things that got us here.”
Rhode Island has done well at the Surf Golf and Beach Club Invitational in recent years. The Rams placed fifth in 2024. Tong was one under par for the final two rounds, and Liu took fourth place.
