20th in 1996, Golf tees off in 1997 with second place result

Led by team captain Andy Bradshaw's second-place finish, the Penn golf team opened its season in impressive fashion, placing second behind St. Bonaventure at the Cornell/Colgate Invitational last weekend in Ithaca, N.Y. The finish marked a major improvement for the squad, as it began last year with a 20th-place finish at Yale. Second-year Quakers coach Francis Vaughn cited improved players and a deeper unit as a reason for the growth. "The three new freshmen are a great asset," Vaughn said. "It makes qualifying for a tournament more difficult [within the team]." For most tournaments, a team can only take five golfers, which makes competition fierce among Penn's 12 golfers. All-Ivy selection Bradshaw shot a two-day total of 145 (75 Saturday, 70 Sunday), tying him with Lehigh's Phil Averbach at the end of regulation play. Averbach took the tournament on the first playoff hole with a bogey after Bradshaw found the water. Despite the team and individual successes, Bradshaw said, "We didn't do as well as we expected score-wise, but it was a good learning experience." Coming out a bit rusty after the summer break from competition, the team shot a first-day total of 307, but came back on Sunday with a 302 for a team total of 609, six shots off St. Bonaventure's winning mark of 603. Sophomore Rob Goldfaden topped off the top-10 scoring for Penn with his ninth-place 150 (75-75). Also participating for the Quakers were Kyle Moran (76-79-155), Brian Owens (81-78-159) and Christopher Kyrle (81-83-164). The Red and Blue hope to build off the promising start at what Vaughn termed "a better quality field" at the Army Invitational next weekend. Graduating only one senior from last year's Ivy runner-up squad, the team's outlook is positive. "We have the ability to win every tournament we play in our district," Bradshaw said.

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