FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Men's golf set a new program record on Saturday's round one and turned around today shooting a 292 to set the new program record for lowest two-day team score in program history. The Lions finished seventh in an elite field of competition going toe to toe with multiple highly nationally ranked Division III teams and Northeast regional teams.
RESULTS
The two-day tournament was played at historic Bethpage Golf Course playing the red course.
Albright took seventh out of 16 total teams in competition. Among the teams in the field were #8 Huntington, #18 Babson, #26 Rochester, #36 Trinity (CT) and #45 Rensselaer. A total of 10 top 100 teams in Division III, including Albright teed it up this weekend.
The seventh place finish for the Lions saw them beat the #71 team in Division III Husson, #89 Bowdoin, #98 Hartford, #36 Trinity (CT) and #88 Skidmore. Albright beat #36 Trinity (CT) by 17 strokes which will surely move the Lions up from their 100
th national ranking coming into the tournament.
The field is the toughest the Lions will play in all season and they proved they can play with the best teams in the country and individual players in the country. Of the 88 total golfers in the field, 10 of them were ranked inside the top 100. Two top 15 players in the country from Huntingdon were in action but were both beaten out by an Albright Lion.
Coach Lamm is very pleased with the teams efforts. "These past two days have not only proved to ourselves but to the rest of the northeast that Albright can be competitive with the elite programs of our region. College golf is all about the team and the Lions displayed the importance of that this weekend. All five guys in the lineup played as one resulting in our new program record low round and program record two-day team score."
Ben Egin's play this weekend rivaled some of the best golf Egin has played throughout his Albright career. Egin shot an opening round one under par 69 including playing the first 12 holes at four under par. Egin returned to the course today sitting in T4 poised to earn a top 10 finish. Over Sunday's round Egin was steady throughout shooting a 73. Egin played the back nine at one under par to conclude a fantastic weekend.
The two-day score of just two over par (142) for Egin placed him in T10. The score beat the #15 ranked golfer by two strokes and the #2 golfer by three strokes. Overall, Egin beat 11 total golfers that were ranked #149 or better coming into the tournament.
Charles Bailey flew up the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon rising 26 spots to finish T26 on the weekend. Sunday's round for Bailey was played at even par, a six shot improvement from Saturday's round. Bailey had three birdies total on Sunday including playing holes 11-14 at two under par. Bailey's two-day score was better than four golfers that are ranked inside the top 150 in the country in Division III.
Sam Elsen also improved greatly on his day two score from day one improving by eight strokes. Elsen fired a 73 in round two which propelled him 18 spots up the leaderboard. Elsen had three birdies overall on Sunday all of which came on par fours.
Nontaphat Veeratecha finished in 40
th overall this weekend faring well over the two days. Veeratecha shot a 78 in round two but used his strong round one to turn in a formidable two-day score amongst an elite field.
Jonatan Liljeblad birdied hole No. nine on his way to a solid showing in the tournament. Liljeblad shot a 76 this afternoon but never wavered as every stroke counts in team play. Lilejeblad's score was instrumental in helping the team to their program record setting weekend.
Up Next:
The Albright "White" team will be in action beginning Tuesday (April 22) taking on Penn State Berks in the annual "Lions Cup". The first golfers will go off at 10:30 a.m. at Heidelberg Golf Course.
