MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Penn State men's golfer Matt Abbott finished the first round of the Northern Intercollegiate with a 69, the best score, to that point, in his collegiate career. He followed up with back-to-back rounds in the 60s on the second day of the tournament in September 1998 and became the first in Nittany Lion program history to achieve three rounds in the 60s in a 54-hole golf tournament (69-67-66).
"I remember it being a lot of fun, the guys in front of me, the guys behind me, everybody was having a lot of fun and there were a lot of birdies being made," said Matt Abbott, a 2001 All-American and four-time NCAA All-Region selection. "It was the first time in college that I had gone really low for three days. I think I was paired with a guy from Michigan who was an All-American, and he was making birdies, and we both just kept going, and kept making birdies."
While Abbott established a major individual achievement for the Penn State, the weekend of Sept. 18-19, 1998, saw a near-rewrite of the program's individual and team record book.
The Penn State men's golf team had trekked to the upper Midwest for their second event of the 1998 fall season. The Northern Intercollegiate provided Big Ten teams with a preview of the course that would be used for the spring championship. The Les Bolstad Golf Course on the University of Minnesota campus would be the Nittany Lions' destination both this weekend and again in May.
The unseasonably hot day was one in a stretch of 80- and 90- degree days as the Twin Cities had its warmest month of September on record. Sunny skies greeted the Nittany Lions on day two as the course was ready for the teams to cycle through two rounds to complete the 54-hole event.
"We did have a lot of short irons and wedges into greens, some people called it a 'birdiefest,' and when it was that warm, too, the ball was going that much further," Abbott recalled. "The driver was going forever."
Abbott trimmed two more strokes off his personal-best score, carding a 67 for round two. The Endwell, New York, native was about to make Penn State golf history.
Even before Abbott returned to the clubhouse to sign his card, the barrage on the list of Penn State's top performances continued as two other Nittany Lions posted single-round scores to earn spots in the program's top 20. Sophomore Greg Marshalek carded a 65 in his final round, tying Adam Decker for Penn State's lowest single-round score. Sophomore Andy Latowski added his career-low 68 score to the list as well.
Abbott's 66 in the third round was another accomplishment, a personal low round, and he finished the tournament in second place with a 12-under 202. His tournament total of 202 shattered Penn State's previous full-course individual tournament record by 13 strokes.
Latowski and junior Mike Saporito tied for third place on the individual 54-hole performance list with duplicate 213 totals while Marshalek had a 217 for the weekend to tie for seventh place.
"Obviously, that was a talented team," said Penn State men's golf head coach Greg Nye. "They were 'all in' with preparation and seemed to inspire each other with great play during the event. It was one of those weekends where the Lions were roaring."
Penn State opened the tournament with a 283, good for fifth all-time, anchored by Abbott's 69 and a 1-under 70 by freshman Josh Dawes. A team score of 286 followed to take another spot on Penn State's top-10 list.
On the final day, record-setting efforts by Abbott and Marshalek, and contributions from Latowski, Saporito and Dawes, combined for the program's lowest single-round score with a 269. The mark still holds the top spot more than 20 years later, shared with a fall 2019 final round at the Old Town Club Collegiate and second-round total at the 2002 James Madison Invitational.
Penn State's team total 838 at the 1998 Northern Intercollegiate vaulted to the top of the program's best 54-round scores, bettering the previous full-course mark by 43 strokes.
"I remember trying to manage the intentions of our team's planning on shots, worried that we might get careless because everything was working, and birdies were flying everywhere," Nye recalled. "Right down to the last shot Matt made. He cooperated on an uphill chip shot and made yet another birdie to finish."
A few weeks later, the Nittany Lions would add to their top-10 list with an 874 at the Anchor Bank Intercollegiate and an 890 at the Legends of Indiana event.
Those amazing scores from fall 1998 have been replaced as teams have turned in lower scores and added tournament titles in more recent years. In all, the members of the 1998-99 Nittany Lion squad were represented with four individual low rounds in the top 15 and established five of the top performances on the team side.
Abbott, who owned the lowest scoring average of the 1998-99 season, finished second in the 1998 event, but he would go on to win the Northern Intercollegiate tournaments in both 1999 and 2000.
