STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Penn State men's golf team trimmed a stroke off its first-round score and is in third after the first day of the Rutherford Intercollegiate with a 7-over 575 (288-287). A total of four strokes separates four teams occupying six of the top spots in the standings. Sunday's final round of the Nittany Lions' home tournament at the Penn State Blue Course will tee off at 8 a.m.
Penn State freshman James Allen (Scarsdale, New York) made his collegiate debut competing as an individual and moved into a tie for second with a 3-under 139 (69-70) on the day. Allen leads three Nittany Lions in the top 10 as sophomores Patrick Sheehan (Doylestown, Pennsylvania) and Ben Smith (Blain, Pennsylvania) are tied for ninth. Sheehan carded a career-low 70 in the second round for even par at 142 while Smith duplicated his first-round career-low 71 in the afternoon (E, 71-71=142).
Graduate students Alec Bard (New Hartford, New York) and Ryan Davis (Berkeley Heights, New Jersey), and senior James McHugh (Rye, New York) are tied for 13th at 143. McHugh turned in a career-low 69 in the first round (1-over, 69-74=143) and had eight birdies, the second-highest total for day one. Bard and Davis had identical totals with a 70 in the first round and 73 in the afternoon. Bard finished the day with six birdies.
With four birdies on his front nine of the afternoon round, senior Lukas Clark posted a 32, best by a Nittany Lion and second best on the day. Clark finished with a 2-over 144 (74-70=144) to tie for 19th place.
Senior Lou Olsakovsky (Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania) and sophomore Jimmy Meyers (Wexford, Pennsylvania) are tied at 36 with identical 148 scores (6-over, 76-72=148), bouncing back in the second round. Meyers made his first eagle as a Nittany Lion in the afternoon round on No. 9. Junior Ryan Lee (Norwood, New Jersey) is tied for 43rd with a 149 (7-over, 72+77+149).
Kent State, ranked 38th nationally, holds the top team spot after two rounds with a 569 (1-over). Evan Brown of Loyola (Maryland) shot a 65 in Saturday's second round and had a 136 for the day for a 6-under par to lead all participants.
Results and live stats for the final day of the 44th Rutherford Intercollegiate will be available on GolfStat. A recap of Sunday's final round and results will be available on GoPSUsports.com.
