WILMINGTON, Del. – Men's golf has gotten off to a strong start in the fall 2024 season and today was no different. The Lions hosted two Invitationals this week and came out on top of both. On Monday, Albright won the Lions Fall Invitational over a 16-team field and followed up that performance with a win in today's "Daily Double" Invite by 19 strokes.
The site of today's tournament, White Clay Creek Country Club, is without a doubt the hardest and most challenging course Albright will play all year. Considering the difficulty of today's venue, the scores for Albright are all the more impressive. White Clay Creek CC hosted the 2024 Delaware Amateur Tournament further proving the challenge the course brings.
Albright started well on the course today and never looked back. When it was all said and done, the Lions occupied four of the top five spots on the individual leaderboard.
Oliver Liljeblad,
Sam Elsen,
Evan Twyman and
Federico Cobos turned in great rounds all finishing in the top five.
Jonatan Liljeblad was not far behind his Lion teammates finishing in a tie for ninth.
Head men's and women's golf coach
Eric Lamm on his team's performance, "I am so proud of the effort all of our players made today. They way they persevered on a course of this difficulty was truly special to see and is a testament to hard work the players have been putting in."
Albright's team score of 313 was 19 strokes better than the second-place finishers. Hood's A team (332 team score) finished in second and Elizabethtown (341) took third. Through three tournaments to begin the fall season Albright's team score average comes in at an impressive 311.3.
O. Liljeblad earned low medalist honors by way of a tiebreak. O. Liljeblad tied for first with a round of 76 and won the tournament by shooting even par on the back nine to beat Penn State Berks Peyton Moyer who shot two over on the back nine.
The sophomore golfer from Stockholm, Sweden can now say he has won a collegiate golf tournament with the win today. O. Liljeblad played his last 10 holes at even par to keep pace with the field and ultimately win the tournament. O. Liljeblad's birdie on the par five 15
th hole secured the win and low medalist honors for the Lion golfer.
Oliver Liljeblad pictured with head coach
Eric Lamm after earning low medalist honors.
"I am so happy for Oliver, as he has worked tirelessly since arriving at Albright and today's victory showed what hard work can do. Oliver has always put his best foot forward and was rewarded today by earning low medalist honors."
Elsen, Twyman and Cobos tied each other with rounds of 79. The trio was a full two strokes better than the next closest competitors having three of the five rounds in the 70's today. Twyman finished his round in style birding two of the last three holes.
J. Liljeblad earned his first top 10 of the season with his round of 81. J. Liljeblad's round was capped by birding the 9
th and 18
th holes, both of which were par fours.
Rounding out the Lions in action today were
Chris DiRita and
Kyle Vonderlinden. Today's round was the second of the season for DiRita and the first for Vonderlinden. DiRita finished with an 89 and Vonderlinden ended with a 97.
Up Next:
Albright will tee it up next at the "Weyhill Classic" hosted by Moravian University on September 16. The tournament's first tee time is set for 1:00 p.m. The tournament will be played at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa.