Fifth-place finishes for Penn golf over weekend

As the rest of campus began to get pumped on Friday for Spring Fling, Penn golf split up to take part in two tournaments.

The women’s team headed to Suffern, N.Y. to take part in the Roar-EE Invitational. The 36-hole tournament, held annually at Columbia’s Spook Rock Golf Course, was cut in half due to rain.

The Quakers finished fifth out of a field of 10 teams, but the score was much closer than that. Penn posted a combined 342, only four strokes off first-place Boston University.

Senior Isabel Han shot a combined 80 and finished tied for fifth place overall in the individual standings, just one stroke off of first place.

On the other hand, the men’s team traveled to New Jersey to take part in the Princeton Invitational held at the par-71 Springdale Golf Club. The 54-hole tournament was split into two days’ worth of action.

At the end of day one, the Quakers were tied for third out of 14 teams, thanks to a strong start by senior Colin St. Maxens.

St. Maxens shot a second-best 68 in the first round, followed by a 74 in the second stanza. Junior Max Marsico shot 70 and 73 for a combined 143, tying for ninth at the end of day one.

The men then looked to continue their strong start early Sunday morning. At the end of the third and final round, the team finished with a combined score of 878, good for fifth out of a field of 14 teams led by Yale with 868.

“We didn’t put it together for three rounds,” senior captain P.J. Fielding said. “We struggled on the third round. It was very windy [on Sunday].”

Individually, Marsico had a great Sunday. He climbed the leaderboard to end up tied for fifth out of the 75-man field. His combined score of 216 was three shots above par and only seven strokes off the lead shared by Temple golfers Brandon Matthews and Matthew Teesdale.

With a seven-over 220, St. Maxens finished tied for 14th. Meanwhile, two other Quakers made the top 25, namely sophomore Ben Cooley (T-19) and Fielding (T-24).

“Despite Max finishing well, I know he is disappointed,” coach Bob Heintz said. “He hit the ball well enough to win the tournament, but he just three-put too many times.”

Heintz also did not want to use the wind as an excuse for losing ground on Sunday.

“As much as we’re talking about the wind, if we just putted better, we could have performed better,” he said.

Next up on the calendar for the women are the Ivy League Championships, which will take place from April 26-28 at Trump National Bedminster in New Jersey. The men will take part in the Navy Spring Invitational in Annapolis, Md. from April 20-21 for their last tournament before the Ivy League Championships.

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