By: Scott Eddy, Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Communications
APALACHIN, N.Y. – A pair of top-10 finishes from sophomore Colin Barber and freshman Nicolas Gaughan propelled the St. Bonaventure men's golf team to a third-place finish at the Matthews Auto Intercollegiate played on the Links at Hiawatha Landing.
A steady pair of days including a team score of 295 in the opening round Sunday and a final tally of 297 Monday allowed the Bonnies to register a podium finish. Bona's 592 total for the 36 holes stood behind only champion Bucknell's 586 and two shots back of Atlantic 10 rival La Salle's 590. Iona (595) and Le Moyne (601) rounded out the top five in the 13-team field.
Barber posted even-par 72 on Sunday, circling five birdies on his scorecard. In the final round, he worked around a tough stretch of 3-over between the seventh and 11th holes with three birdies down the stretch to card 74. He rounded out the day at 2-over for the tournament, good for a tie for sixth out of 87 players and his best full field finish of the season. Â
Playing as part of the lineup for just the second time in his young college career, Gaughan impressed with a ninth-place effort.
He played the 7,104-yard layout in a sparkling total of 2-under 70 on Sunday, draining three birdies with just one bogey on the card for his best round of the fall. After finding red figures in the first round, he finished with 77 to hang on to a top-10 individual spot on the leaderboard.
Junior Dante Bertoni helped the Bonnies climb the team leaderboard in the final round as he followed up his opening day score of 77 with 72 to place in 16th at 5-over for the tourney.
Freshman Mitchell Sargent, fresh off back-to-back top-15 finishes in the previous two tournaments, responded on Monday with 74 after 78 in the opener to move into a tie for 25th.
Also in the lineup for the Bonnies was sophomore Tyler Berkman (76-83) whose tournament highlight came with an eagle on the par-5, 510-yard ninth on Sunday afternoon.
Playing as an individual, freshman Reid Wilson tied for 17th with matching rounds of 75 including five birdies on Monday. Junior Braddock Damore (73-81) as well as senior Vinny Liguori (77-78) and junior Nick Cecchini (79-78) also played individual rounds for the Bonnies.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH PATRICK DAMORE
"We had a successful event. We didn't play well on day one, but Nick Gaughan did. Colin was a rock for both days. Day two saw the wind pick up to difficult levels and the field scoring average was 79 on Monday. We performed well in the wind today and were able to move up the leaderboard."
UP NEXT
The Bonnies return to action with their penultimate event of the fall season, the Bucknell Invitational Oct. 11-13 in Lewisburg, Pa.
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