UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- The Nittany Lions have been hitting the links on their own all summer, and now that the whole team is back on campus, they are ready for team competition in advance of their first tournament of the season.
Head coach Greg Nye returns for his 28th season at the helm, and is excited by the outlook of the 2019 season as he returns seven lettermen, while welcoming four newcomers to the squad.
Here are a few other storylines that are worth keeping an eye on as the 2019 campaign gets closer to getting underway at the Rod Myers Invitational on Sept. 14-15 at Duke University Golf Club in Durham, N.C.
Building off two team tournament wins in 2018
Last season saw the Nittany Lions take home wins at both the aforementioned Rod Myers Invitational, and the Rutherford Intercollegiate in mid-April, which was hosted by the Nittany Lions.
Penn State returns a pair of seniors in Alec Bard (New Hartford, N.Y.) and Ryan Davis (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) who were both honored as All-American Scholars by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
"We have two players in [Alec] Bard and [Ryan] Davis, who have started most of the time since they were freshmen here," Nye said. "They have a ton of experience and we'll look to them for leadership."
In being eligible for the honor, Bard and Davis both maintained above a 3.2 GPA, participated in over half of the team's competitive rounds, and held a stroke average of under 76.0. Under Coach Nye's leadership, 28 different student-athletes have now earned the accolade.
Three Nittany Lions named to All-Northeast Region Team
Along with Davis, 2019 seniors JD Hughes and Charles Huntzinger were named to the 2019 PING All-Northeast Region team, which is tied for the most individuals from a single program within the region.
Huntzinger leaves Penn State as the program's all-time scoring leader with a 72.07 average. He managed to secure the region team for the fourth time as a Nittany Lion, becoming only the sixth player in the history of the program to secure a spot in all four years. Davis will look to accomplish the same feat this coming season.
Four newcomers to the team for the 2019-20 season
Coach Nye will welcome a quartet of newcomers in the coming season, as Jimmy Meyers (Wexford, Pa.), Brady Pevarnik (Latrobe, Pa.), Patrick Sheehan (Doylestown, Pa.), and Ben Smith (Blain, Pa.) join the squad.
"We've had a good five, six year run where it has been tough to get in our lineup," Nye said. "And those players have been working and waiting for their opportunity. That's the fun part, where we can turn the page and begin to get new players into the mix."
With only two seniors on the roster in Bard and Davis, Nye also mentioned how excited he is to work with some of the younger players and get them acclimated to the challenges of college golf.
While many have played in amateur tournaments in high school, Nye compared playing in a collegiate tournament to the equivalent of the top amateur competitors in the country.
Penn State will have three tournaments in North Carolina this fall, beginning their season in Durham on Sept 14-15, before traveling to the Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Sept. 23-24, and rounding out the fall season on Oct. 27-28 at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro for the UNCG/Grandover Collegiate.
In between, they will also stop by Coldstream Country Club in Cincinnati on Sept. 30-Oct. 1 for the Bearcat Invitational, and the Blackhorn Club at The Ridges in Jonesborough, Tenn. for the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate from Oct. 11-13.
With a mix of new talent and returning veterans, the Nittany Lions will be ready to take their talent to North Carolina and get going on a new campaign.
