April 10, 2011
Final Round Team Statistics PDF
Final Round Player Statistics PDF
Final Round Combo Statistics PDF
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's golf team earned its 22nd first-place finish at the 35th annual Rutherford Intercollegiate Sunday. The Nittany Lions defended their home turf firing a 294 in the final round to finish with a tournament total of 880 (290-296-294), seven strokes ahead of second-place Towson (887).
"I thought the guys dug deep this weekend, gave it their all, played team golf for the most part and came out on top," said Coach Nye. "Winning any event requires everyone to contribute and they all did so."
The Lions led the competitive 16-team field for the entirety of the tournament with their largest lead of 10 strokes at the completion of the first and second rounds. In the final round of play, Towson fought back shooting a tournament-low team score of 287, but fell short to the Nittany Lions' 28-over par 880 finish by just seven strokes. Senior Nyasha Mauchaza led the Tigers in the final round firing a 3-under par tournament-low individual score of 68.
Senior T.J. Howe (Osceola, Pa.) held on to the first place position shooting a 2-over par 73 in the final round, giving him a grand total of 216 (70-73-73). The senior finished just one stroke ahead of Binghamton's Jake Katz who concluded play with a 4-over par 217 (72-73-72). Howe led the field in par-3 (3.00, E) and par-4 scoring (4.09, +3), in addition to posting seven birdies and 37 total pars. The first-place finish awarded Howe his first individual title of the season.
"T.J. was impressive all weekend," said Coach Nye. "It is so hard to win your last home event, and we knew he really wanted this one. He has been a terrific player all year, and he led us once again this weekend."
Senior Tommy McDonagh (East Norwalk, Conn.) concluded play with a tournament-high of nine birdies. McDonagh finished tied for sixth, matching his finish at last year's Rutherford, but improving his play by one stroke with an 8-over par finish of 221 (73-73-75). Sophomores Anthony DeGol (Hollidaysburg, Pa.) and Ernesto Marin (Miami, Fla.) followed right behind McDonagh, tying for 12th and posting three-round totals of 223. Marin shot his tournament best of 73 in the final round to conclude with rounds of 75-75-73 (223). DeGol fired rounds of 72-78-73 (223) in his Rutherford debut. Sophomore Jay Woodward (Bridgeport, W.Va.)climbed one position on the player leaderboard from the conclusion of the second round, placing him tied for 33 with teammate and individual competitor Nick Archambault (Q.C., Canada). Woodward carded rounds of 79-75-76 (230) and captured Penn State's sole eagle for the tournament during the second round. Archambault posted rounds of 80-75-75 (230) in his season debut.
Individual competitor Matthew Porter (Cortland, N.Y.) placed tied for 41 with rounds of 78-76-77 (230). Rounding out the Penn State individual participant lineup was junior John Burke (Bay Village, Ohio) who finished with a 24-over par 237 (78-81-78) to tie for 61.
With the conclusion of the Rutherford, the Nittany Lions will play in one more tournament, the Illini Classic April 16-17, before heading out to Indiana for the Big Ten Championships at the end of the month.