The University of Rhode Island men’s golf team fought back from a tough opening round to finish in a tie for third place out of 15 teams in the University of Connecticut Invitational at GreatHorse this week.
Heading into this week’s event, the Rams were coming off victories in each of their first two tournaments of the season. As defending champions of the UConn Invitational, they entered the tournament on Sunday with aspirations to add another title to this stellar start to the season.
With just four days of rest following its win at the Ryan T. Lee Memorial Collegiate on Sept. 23, URI struggled in the first round with a score of 19-over, as all five members of the Rams shot four-over or worse. The round put them in a tie for 12th place with Lafayette College, only ahead of two teams across the 15-team field.
“We were unfocused,” URI Head Coach Gregg Burke said. “I’m not saying even one kid was cocky, I’m not saying one kid was overconfident, but I am saying that I don’t think one kid was focused.”
Coming off their struggles throughout the first day, the Rams came out on fire in the second round on Monday to begin their climb up the leaderboard. Across its first six holes of the day, URI was a combined six-under, with three of its five players being in red figures.
Second-year Luke Stennett, who collected individual victories in each of the first two tournaments of the season, came out of the gates firing with three straight birdies to move to three-under through six holes. He slowed down from there, making two bogeys and 10 pars on his final 12 holes, but his round of one-under was still a six-shot improvement from the opening day and moved him 17 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 25th.
“Luke has an almost indescribable ability,” Burke said. “He has a chance to be one of the best players in the country, not just the [Atlantic 10 Conference]. Once he has a brighter outlook when things aren’t going so well, he’ll be dominant.”
Third-year Tony Liu and second-year Tyler Bruneau both provided steady rounds of even par on Monday to climb double-digit spots up the individual leaderboard. Stennett, Liu and Bruneau avoided the big numbers on Monday, with no double bogeys or worse after they all made a double bogey in the opening round.
As a team, the Rams ended up shooting a score of even par on Monday, which was a 19-shot improvement from their first round, to leap all the way up into a tie for sixth place.
Looking to continue to creep its way up the leaderboard, URI once again got off to a torrid start in the final round on Tuesday with a score of seven-under on the front nine and just two total bogeys made. This time, however, the Rams didn’t look back after their red-hot start and rode the momentum to a final round of 11-under, which was nine shots better than any other team in the field.
Playing out of the No. 5 spot in the Rams’ lineup, Liu led the charge on Tuesday with a career-low round of five-under. After being even across his first seven holes, Liu caught fire with an eagle on the eighth, along with three consecutive birdies on nine, 10 and 11 to catapult all the way to five-under. The standout round from Liu moved him inside the top 10 on the individual leaderboard at one-under.
“[Liu] didn’t play well today because of one thing I said,” Burke said. “He played well today because he believed all the work that he’s put in during his entire life, and especially the last couple weeks, was worth something.”
Stennett continued his momentum into the final round, as he also shot five-under with just one bogey made to join Liu inside the top 10 at one-under for the tournament. With this strong finish, Stennett has now had a top-10 finish in all 11 regular season tournaments that he’s played in during his collegiate career.
URI used its impressive final day to finish in a tie for third place along with St. John’s University at eight-over. After only being ahead of two teams following the opening round, the only teams that the Rams finished behind were Boston College and the winners of the tournament, UConn.
“It’s a luxury to be upset that we shot 11-under in the final round,” Burke said. “The reason that we’re upset is because we’re capable of that and more [every round]. That’s a 30-stroke difference from the first round, and that’s just unacceptable.”
Looking ahead, the Rams will get a week off before heading to Kettering, Ohio for the Moraine Intercollegiate on Oct. 13.
