M. Golf places fifth at JMU

A round of 34-over-par would fail to please your average duffer. But for the Penn men's golf team, a two-day total of 34-over at the James Madison Invitational feels like a 30-foot birdie putt that falls right into the cup. Behind strong outings from senior Kyle Moran and sophomore Chad Perman, the Quakers captured a fifth-place finish last weekend in Harrisonburg, Va. The two-day tournament's field consisted of 17 teams from all around the East, including Princeton. On Friday, Penn found itself comfortably in third place, but fell to fifth after Saturday's round. Penn recorded team scores of 298 and 304, respectively. This was a significant improvement from Penn's ninth-place performance in the same tournament last year. Penn coach Francis Vaughn, who has helped to develop the Quakers into a perennial Ivy League championship contender, felt that his team met his expectations. "I was not surprised [at] our fifth-place finish," Vaughn said. "The team played well last week and had a good week of practice." That week of practice followed up a sixth-place performance for the Red and Blue at the Navy Invitational. Looking ahead to Penn's next tournament, which is nearly a month away, Vaughn hopes to focus on team members' short games during practices. "This is one area where everyone on the team could improve," Vaughn said. The Quakers will try to keep their momentum rolling and their putts sinking at the Lehigh Invitational on October 13-15. At James Madison, 1999 All-Ivy selection Moran placed 11th out of the 90 players competing in the field. Moran shot a two-day total of 147, five-over-par. Teammate Chad Perman followed with a total of 149, landing him in the 17th-place position. "Endel Liias and Mike Russell also played well this past weekend," Vaughn said. Liias and Russell rounded out the Penn scoring. Liias tallied a score of 151, while Russell shot a total score of 155. St John's won the tournament with a team score of 16-over. Princeton finished in 13th place, marking the second week in a row that the Tigers have been bested by the Red and Blue.

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