BY COLBY GAINES, STAFF WRITER
The St. Bonaventure golf team traveled to Orlando, Florida last weekend to compete in the Atlantic 10 Championship, finishing eighth out of the 11 teams competing.
Graduate Danny Gianniny highlighted the Bonnies with a 14-place finish on the individual leaderboard. Gianniny steadily paced himself from the opener, recording an even-par 72 in round one, 75 in round two and an incredible 69 in round three; the third lowest individual score in the entire competition. Gianniny’s outing concluded with a total score of 216.
Gianniny wasn’t alone, however. Fifth-year senior Christian Chapman was the emphasis of the second day of play, shooting a 73 for the Bonnies. Chapman tallied 74-73-72 across the three rounds, netting a score of 219 to tie for 23rd individually. Chapman also recorded one of just six eagles in the entire competition, coming from his score of three on the par 5. Additionally, fifth-year senior Jack Geise chimed in 74, 76, and 77 and tied for 39 on the weekend. The three senior’s formidable finishes were a rather poetic ending to their careers at St. Bonaventure.
“It’s kind of bittersweet to see those three guys go,” admitted head Coach Ryan Swanson. “Danny’s last round was really special, and Chapman had a great round as well. I know Jack probably wanted to play a little better going out, but those three guys have given me everything they’ve had for the last five years… I couldn’t be happier to see them have success on the course and begin their lives when they enter the real world in a couple of weeks.”
Gianniny, the former Atlantic 10 All-Academic Team recipient, registered a stroke average of 73.0 over 16 rounds in all seven events across the fall season. Geise also played in all seven events during the fall season, posting a scoring average of 75.5 over 16 rounds. As for Chapman, he set multiple program records this year, such as the lowest round (65), low-54 hole total (205) as well as best score vs. par in a 54-hole tournament (-11) at the VCU Shootout (67-73-65).
Senior Erik Stauderman proved to be another persistent threat for St. Bonaventure, putting his experience on display with his impressive outing from the beginning. Stauderman shot a 1-under 71 on Friday, pacing himself to a fourth place on the individual leaderboard after day one. From there, Stauderman recorded a 1-over 73 the following day before tallying a final round 76. Stauderman’s performance amounted a 220 total and a tie for 28 on the individual leaderboard.
“The first day, I thought we played really solid, [we] beat a lot of really good teams,” said Stauderman. “The second day was a little bit of a letdown. No one was bad, but no one was great either… This is probably one of the strongest teams we’ve had at Bonaventure, probably Bonnies golf history, with the three grad students, myself, and Lance, such a seniority led team… But some of those teams we play against, you know, the VCUs, the Davidsons, obviously, being in the south, they get to play all year and they’re very solid programs. We know it’s a real long shot to win the thing.”
Junior Lance Sininger posted a score of 80 before opting out of the final two rounds due to reported health issues.
After rallying a day one score of 291, St. Bonaventure found themselves in a fourth-place tie on Friday. While the Bonnies posted a team-contributed 297 during the second round of play, it wouldn’t be enough of a cushion for their day three score of 294. With an 882 total score, St. Bonaventure finished 8th as Davidson went on to win the championship by two strokes over VCU – 851 to 853.
gainesca21@bonaventure.edu
