Feb. 11, 2011
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - The Penn State men's golf team opened their spring season at the Big Ten Match Play Championship at the Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Friday morning. In their first match up, Penn State fell to Minnesota 3-1-2. After the morning defeat, the Nittany Lions went on to beat Wisconsin in the first consolation round 3-2-1.
Sophomore Jay Woodward (Bridgeport, W.Va.) stood out in the first match, capturing the single victory the Nittany Lions had over Minnesota. Woodward took on Minnesota freshman Alex Gaugert and claimed the victory by virtue of leading by three holes with two holes remaining (3 and 2).
Senior T.J. Howe (Osceola, Pa.) and sophomore Ernesto Marin (Miami, Fla.) both halved their matches. Howe met his match with Minnesota senior Donald Constable. The two stood all square at the ninth hole after Howe led 1 up for seven consecutive holes. Howe held onto a 3 up mark at holes 13 and 14, but Constable fought back to square up the match threw the final two holes. Marin experienced an equally challenging match up against Minnesota red-shirted sophomore David Haley. Marin led for a majority of the 18 holes, but Haley was never far behind. Fighting back from the 4-up mark Marin held at the 10th hold, Haley closed the gap, leading to the second all square finish for the match.
The three losses Penn State faced in the first match up came from Senior Tommy McDonagh (East Norwalk, Conn.), and sophomores Matthew Porter (Cortland, NY) and Anthony DeGol (Hollidaysburg, PA). The final match scores were 7 and 6, 4 and 3, and 5 and 4, respectively.
In the afternoon match up Penn State topped Wisconsin 3-2-1. Howe, DeGol and Porter earned the three victories for the Nittany Lions. Howe and DeGol both held onto no less than a 2 up score on the back nine to top a pair of Wisconsin sophomores. Porter battled with Wisconsin's Sam Frank through the tenth hole where the match tallied seven all square marks. Porter concluded the match 3 and 2.
Woodward held the lone halved match, while McDonagh and Marin fell to Wisconsin 3 and 2 and 2 up, respectively.
The Nittany Lions will take the field again Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. as they match up against Michigan State. For live updates please visit the AJGA website. For more updates on Penn State golfers please visit GoPSUsports.com.