M. Golf gets lucky 13 at East Carolina

The eyes of the golf world may have been fixated on Tiger Woods last weekend, but that didn't stop the Penn men's golf team from maintaining focus at the East Carolina Invitational last weekend. Senior co-captain Kyle Moran led the Red and Blue to 13th place in a very strong field of 22 teams. "For some of these teams it was their third or fourth tournament [of the season]," Moran said. It was no surprise that the Quakers were going to be a little rusty, as it was the squad's first tournament of the season. In this respect, the team was at a disadvantage playing against southern schools which have been playing and practicing year-round. "We played against teams which were outside of our district," Penn sophomore Peyton Wallace said. "There were southern schools [competing] which are more focused on golf. The field was deep, too." Moran fired an impressive three-round total of 223 (74-75-74). Sophomore Endel Liias shot 226 for his three rounds (72-82-72), Wallace posted 230, as did Chad Perman, and Trey Best finished at 233. Mike Russell, who participated in the individual tournament, shot 234. Moran was generally pleased with the way he played, owing his strong showing to the hard work he put in in the off season. He thought the team's play this weekend demonstrated potential for good things to come. "It was a pretty good outing, especially since it was the first outing of the spring," Moran said. "Everybody came away with something that they have to work with." Moran added that the Quakers will hopefully improve in tournament play as they participate in more of them. The Quakers' excellent play this weekend came on an open golf course with rock-hard greens. "There were no trees to block out winds," Moran said. "And the greens did not hold [approach shots]." Moran added that the wind-gusts, which were up to 30 m.p.h., made judging the distance and direction of the golf shot very difficult. Penn hopes there will be no repeat of those 30 m.p.h. wind gusts next weekend, as the Quakers get their first glimpse of some Ivy League foes at the Princeton Invitational. As of now, the only two players assured a spot on the starting roster for next week are Moran and Liias, as they were the two low finishers at the East Carolina Invitational. Seven other players, including senior co-captain Todd Golditch, will vie for the final three spots.

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