Golf finishes fourth at St. John's

Bradshaw holds offBradshaw holds offTemple's Lewis toBradshaw holds offTemple's Lewis towin individual title The Penn golf program entered a new era in its history when it won the Bucknell Invitational, the Quakers' first-ever first-place finish in a tournament. Apparently this era may not be short-lived. Penn again turned in another strong performance this past weekend at the St. John's Invitational, finishing fourth in a field of 24 -- only 16 strokes behind first-place Temple. The Quakers then went out and qualified as a team for the ECAC Championships by finishing second at the regional qualifier. This weekend will mark Penn's first trip to the ECAC finals in the team's history. What made the team's performance at the St. John's tourney even sweeter was the performance of junior Adam Bradshaw, who finished first overall in a field of 119 golfers. Bradshaw, who also came in first overall at Bucknell the week before, squeaked out a one-stroke victory over Temple's Josh Lewis. "I played pretty well," Bradshaw said. "I used good course management, played relatively conservatively and tried to just make pars." And Bradshaw was not alone in finishing in the top 10. Quakers freshman Rob Goldfaden turned in his finest collegiate performance to date, shooting two rounds in the mid-70s and tying for eighth place. Penn captain Justin Cotler rebounded from a first-round 85 to score 75 on the pressure-filled second day of competition. "Justin had a real tough first day, but he came back and shot a really great second round," Bradshaw said. The final two Quakers playing -- junior Shiv Puri and sophomore Brian Owens -- both shot two-day totals of 164, which tied the pair for 61st overall. Penn's abrupt turnaround has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the collegiate golfing community. Following in the footsteps of Cornell coach Dick Costella, who noted Penn's rapid improvement from mediocrity to East Coast competitiveness, Princeton's coach bestowed some kind words upon the Quakers. According to Adam Bradshaw, Princeton coach Dick Hunt told him that Penn was "the Northwestern of golf," referring to the Wildcats' turnaround from football patsy to Big 10 champion last season. Next up for the Quakers will be this weekend's ECAC Championships, which will be played at Kings Creek Golf Club in Rehoboth Beach, Del. With only the ECACs and the Lehigh Invitational remaining on the fall schedule, the Quakers hope that their continued success can steamroll them through the spring and possibly to their ultimate goal, the Ivy League championship.