OLEAN, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure men's golf team dominated rivals Canisius and Niagara to reclaim the Little Three Championship under perfect conditions Tuesday at Bartlett Country Club.

St. Bonaventure led wire-to-wire in the 36-hole event, winning by 18 shots over second-place Canisius with a victorious team score of 564. Defending champion Niagara was third with a final tally of 600.

Junior Dante Bertoni showed the way, earning medalist honors as the only player to finish in red figures for the tournament. The third-year Bonnie fired a sparkling 1-under 69 in the morning round before finishing with even-par 70 in the afternoon. Bertoni's 139 total cleared the field by three strokes with his sophomore teammate Colin Barber tying for second with Matthew Santini of Canisius at 142.

Bertoni shook off a bogey on the second hole of the morning by draining an eagle on the par-4 fifth hole at Bona's home layout. After going out in even-par 35, he regained control after playing the first four holes of the back nine in 2-over. From there, he made birdie on the par-5 14^th as well as the final two par-4s to tie Barber for the best round of the day.

Barber was level for the lead following the opening round after making birdie on three of the final five holes to cap the opening 18 before settling for 73 in the evening.

Bona's underclassmen continued to impress as sophomore Tyler Berkman placed fourth following rounds of 72 and 71.

Freshmen Reid Wilson and Mitchell Sargent continued their strong starts to the fall, picking up where they left off less than 36 hours earlier at Colgate as both players tied for fifth with matching tournament totals of 144. Sargent played both rounds to the tune of 72 while Wilson opened with even-par 70 in the morning before carding 74 in the afternoon.

Junior Braddock Damore gave the Bonnies yet another top-10 finisher as he placed eighth with rounds of 70 and 75 for a 145 total.

Playing as individuals, senior Vinny Liguori tied for 11^th (77-72/149) while Nick Cecchini (75-75/150) and Nicolas Gaughan (81-75/156) also carded scores for SBU.

For the Bonnies, a spot atop the podium at Little Three is a return to form as they came up two shots short last year to snap an eight-year winning streak as the program now has won nine out of the last 10 editions.

The third-longest running college golf tournament in the nation, this year represented the 72^nd edition of the Little Three Championship and the 47^th win overall for St. Bonaventure.

UP NEXT
The Bonnies have a week off before heading to Philadelphia to play at the Temple Invitational hosted at The 1912 Club Sept. 21-22.

 

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