Sept. 28, 2009
Richmond, Va - The Penn State men's golf team competed in the annual Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) shootout today, finishing 36 holes tied for seventh with Iowa. The Nittany Lions played two rounds, improving their score by 12 strokes, carding a 300-288 (588). Penn State sits 17 strokes back from first place team, North Carolina Wilmington who shot five-under par.
Senior T.J. Howe (Osceola, Pa.) led the Nittany Lions after an explosive second round, shooting a 68. Howe jumped from 20th to fourth place in just 18 holes carding rounds of 73-68 to finish at three-under par. Head coach Greg Nye commented on Howe's play, saying that "he was our one bright light today, especially in round two." Brendan Gielow of Wake Forest leads the individual standings at seven-under par after taking first place from round one's leader, Derek Wallace of N. Car. Wilmington.
New Jersey native, Kevin Foley (Somerville, N.J.), improved between rounds, jumping seven positions and picking up an even-par second-round. Foley shot rounds of 74-72 to finish tied for 20th at two-over par. Fellow senior Jim Markovitz (Bridgeville, Pa.) also improved in his second round carding 76-75. Markovitz sits tied for 47th at seven-over par.
Juniors Tommy McDonagh (Wilton, Conn.) and Jason Cohan (Wayne, Pa.) wrapped up for the Nittany Lions with consistent play through 36 holes. McDonagh improved by 4 strokes, carding rounds of 77-73, to finish tied for 44th. Cohan improved by one stroke in his second round, finishing at 15-over par with a two-round 80-79, 159 total.
"We started so poorly in each of our rounds today, so we were forced to play catch up all day. The last 12 holes this afternoon we shot at 14-under par."
The final round of the VCU Shootout will take place tomorrow at 9 a.m. with a shotgun start.