JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. – Penn State men's golf senior Ryan Davis (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) tied his career best with a 6-under 66 in the final round of the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate. Davis tied his career-best mark achieved in the third round at this same event in fall 2018.
Davis had six birdies Sunday for the second-best score of the final round and finished in a tie for 15th with a three-round 210 total (71+73+66, 6-under).
The Nittany Lions had their best team score in the final round with a 286, but couldn't catch up to the leaders as five teams posted final scores of 20 or more strokes under par.
"We are not an experienced team outside of (seniors) Alec and Ryan, and it showed up throughout the tournament," said Penn State men's golf coach Greg Nye. "On a golf course that required under par golf to be competitive in this field, we just got in our own way consistently by making big errors or pesky little ones that negated any decent runs we got going."
No. 12 Louisville grabbed the top spot from host East Tennessee State in the final round with a final round 276 and 830 (34-under) total score. Penn State finished with a 1-under 863 (287+290+286) for 12th. Jack Rhea, of ETSU, captured the individual title with a 15-under 201.
Senior Alec Bard (New Hartford, N.Y.) tied for 32nd with a 2-under 214 (69+71+74), adding two more birdies for a weekend total of 10. Junior Lukas Clark (Holland, Pa.) bounced back on his back nine, going 2-under for a 75 (3-over) in the final round. He tied for 63rd.
Freshman Brady Pevarnik carded his best round on Saturday and scored a 75 (3-over) on Sunday for a 222 total (74+73+75, 6-over) in his first collegiate tournament. The Latrobe, Pa., native tied for 67th. Putting together back-to-back solid rounds, junior James McHugh (Rye, N.Y.) rebounded from a tough first day with a 1-under 71 in the final round. His six birdies on Sunday helped him finish the event at 226 for a tie for 71st.
Freshmen Ben Smith (Blain, Pa.), competing as an individual in his first collegiate event, had his best effort in the final round with a 2-over 74. His 228 total placed him in a tie for 76th.
Penn State plays in its final tournament of the fall season at the UNCG/Grandover Collegiate Sunday-Monday, Oct. 27-28.
Keep up to date with the latest information about the Nittany Lion Men's Golf team on Twitter at @PennStateMGolf and Facebook. Follow Coach Greg Nye on Instagram at @CoachNyePSU.
