FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Men's golf continues to impress as the spring season wears on shooting a new program record as a team during round one of the Farmingdale State Invitational. Albright shot a 291 besting their previous school record team round by one stroke. The Lions were led by Ben Egin who shot a one under 69 to place fourth after day one. The two-day tournament is being on the Red Course at Bethpage State Golf Course.

DAY 1 RESULTS

This weekends field is the strongest competition the Lions will compete against all season. Of the 16 total teams in the field, five of them are nationally ranked inside the top 45. #8 Huntington, #18 Babson, #26 Rochester, #36 Trinity (CT) and #45 Rensselaer are all in the field. 88 total golfers in the field make up the 16 total teams.
The Lions day one score of 291 was 12 strokes better than #36 Trinity (CT).

After day one, Rochester sits in first, New York University in second and Huntingdon in third. Albright is well positioned heading into day two sitting just four strokes behind the third-place team. The Lions program record setting round has them poised to be major factors tomorrow in the second and final round.

Head Coach Eric Lamm is extremely proud of the team's performance today. "I am thrilled with how we played today. Playing at such a historic venue brought the best out of the team shooting a new program record team score of 291. Ben Egin was fantastic this afternoon beating out multiple highly individually nationally ranked D3 golfers. We will enjoy the round this evening as well as starting preparations to make sure we do all we can to have a repeat round tomorrow."

Ben Egin was outstanding today during round one. Through the first 12 holes Egin tallied four birdies and did not record a single bogey. For much of the first round Egin was atop the leaderboard competing with some of the best golfers in the country at the D3 level.

Egin birdied holes one, five, seven and eight for a front nine 31. Egin closed his round with a back nine 38 for a total of 69, good for one under par. The round of 69 was better than 13 golfers in the field that are ranked 149^th or better in D3 including the No. 2 and No. 15 ranked golfers nationally.

Nontaphat Veeratecha fired his lowest collegiate round as an Albright Lion shooting a one over par 71. The round has Veeratecha inside the top 15 sitting in T11 with four other golfers. Veeratecha had birdies on each of the front and back nine. The front nine for Veeratecha was played at even par. Much like Egin, Veeratecha was able to beat out some of the top players in D3 during round one including the No. 2 and No. 25 ranked players.

Jonatan Liljeblad and Charles Bailey had similar round this afternoon. Liljeblad shot a 75 while Bailey shot 76, both of which are tremendous rounds on an overall difficult golf course.

The duo maintained strong play through all 18 holes seeing neither of the two record worse than a bogey.

Sam Elsen rounded out the day with an 81 for the Lions. Elsen fared well on the front nine, coming in at just four over par through his first nine holes.
 
Up Next:
Albright will be back in action tomorrow on Easter Sunday for round two of the Farmingdale State Invitational.