Bona’s golf off to successful start

Team finds success at Little Three Invitational

“We’re expecting big things this year,” St. Bonaventure University Men’s Golf Coach, Ryan Swanson said. With the season just getting underway, Swanson said the golfers are promising.
Last weekend, the Bonnies placed 10 out of 17 teams in the Alex Lagowitz Memorial Invitational.
Senior golfer and co-captain, Brent Morgan, finished with a score of 68 in the final round of the tournament, but that wasn’t enough to push the team to victory.
“We had a little mess up in the first round with sophomore Danny Gianniny getting disqualified,” Morgan said. “That hurt our position, but we were able to bounce back and pick him up.”
On Tuesday, the team finished in first place at the Little Three Championship. The Bonnies have won this championship the past two years. The team topped off the win by 25 points to Canisius and 32 to Niagara.
Swanson touched on the team’s struggles for the first tournament, but being able to bounce back and win the second one.
“The team is competitive this year, and a lot of guys could see action so they have to be ready when their number is called. Young guys are making an impact,” he said.
Sophomore, Jack Geise, pushed the team to victory in the Little Three Championship. Geise was awarded with the individual medalist honor at Crag Burn Golf Club.
Along with Geise, freshmen Erik Stauderman and Andrew Lemay are also playing, keeping pace with the upperclassmen. Morgan mentioned all of these guys, including sophomore Danny Gianniy, when promoting the team.
“With how good Danny was last year, if he’s clicking, then we’re going to be a tough team to contend with,” he said.
“If anyone on the team is struggling, it’s all back to the basics,” said Swanson.
He wants the guys to stay positive and tells them to pick a small target and reach for it.
Earlier in the week, the team could only place tenth in the Alex Lagowitz Invitational, but came back a few days later and took first.
From Morgan’s perspective, he said with a team like this, he doesn’t feel any pressure.
“I feel that if I do slip up, somebody behind is going to be able to shoot a good score to pick me up.”
That’s the team dynamic that the Bonnies are showing this year.
The strategy for both Morgan and Swanson was the same. The Bonnies want to stay positive and know that each one of them have each others’ back during tough moments. The team wants to be able to get to the last nine holes of a tournament with the chance to get a win.
“It’s like any other college golf team, we’re trying to win everything and put ourselves in position to take home a victory,” Morgan said.
The Bonnies travel to Ithaca, New York, this weekend to participate in the Cornell Invitational.