By Harrison Leone
Staff Writer
The men’s golf fall season came to a close this past Tuesday as the Bonnies concluded the Old Dominion/Outerbanks Collegiate Invitational. St. Bonaventure logged a 10th place finish out of a field of 18 schools from across the Eastern Seaboard.
Also competing at the tournament were fellow Atlantic 10 schools Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University and George Washington, who finished 2nd, 6th and 18th, respectively.
The Bonnies got off to a slow start on the first day of the three-day event, shooting a collective 317 and coming in 16th place.
St. Bonaventure was able to rally on the second day of competition as the team jumped four places to finish the day 12th. Senior Brian McKenna had the strongest second day for the team as he was able to shoot one-under par on the day. Overall the team improved by 20 strokes from the first day of play.
The final day of competition saw the Bonnies continue to build on their success as the team overtook James Madison and Marshall to finish tenth.
“The first day was not what we were hoping for, but the guys bounced back and played solid for the final two rounds,” Coach John Powers said. “It’s a sign we have a good team. Good teams will do better each day.”
Josh Stauffer continued his freshman year as he led the team with a 218 score over the three days of play. Stauffer’s score was good enough to earn him a tie for 15th place in the tournament.
“His finish was everything you could ask for,” Powers said.
Powers felt confident about the overall level of play from his squad.
“That was by far the strongest field we played against all year,” Powers said. “Going into the tournament, we were only supposed to beat six teams. As we wound up beating eight, we can definitely say we succeeded at that event.”
The Old Dominion Invitational concluded a season that saw the Bonnies record a top-ten finish at each of the six tournaments in which they competed. It was the first time in the fall season the Bonnies traveled into the South.
“The biggest thing we got from this tournament was experience on a southern course,” Powers said. “The conditions were similar to what our conference championship will be like.”
St. Bonaventure golf will not compete again until the spring season starts up in 2013. Powers said he felt optimistic about the upcoming season.
“We’ll get some more opportunities to gain experience on those Southern courses,” Powers said. “Golf is one of those things you have to do consistently in order to be effective, so once the spring season begins, we’ll have to get back into competition mode.”
Powers said he hopes to have St. Bonaventure competing with the best of the conference.
“We have a strong team and we know we can beat some of these teams in the A-10,” Powers said. “We’ll try to push our way up to be competitive with the top teams now.”
