Torrential rain and an ingrown toenail plagued the men's golf team at this weekend's Cornell Invitational.
The final round of play was cancelled before results were made official, leaving the Quakers tied for seventh place with Bucknell.
Fifteen teams competed at Robert Trent Jones Golf Course in Ithaca, N.Y., including four other Ivy schools. Delaware won the tournament with a score of 287, while third-place Columbia was the best Ivy performer, finishing three strokes back of the Blue Hens. Dartmouth placed fourth with 296, Cornell tied for fifth with 297, Penn carded a 298 and Princeton finish ninth with 299.
Penn coach Scott Allen believes another round of play would have benefitted the Quakers, but the rain did not permit it. The second round was cancelled just after the first ended on Saturday.
Weather wasn't the only obstacle for the Red and Blue. Sophomore Ross Merrill suffered from an ingrown toenail on his right foot, which "flared up on him Friday in the practice round," according to senior captain Michael Blodgett. After playing the first round, Merrill spent Saturday afternoon at the Cornell Sports Medicine Center.
Merrill finished last among his teammates with an 81.
"It wasn't his best showing," Blodgett said, although both he and Allen commended Merrill's ability to play through the pain.
Blodgett lead Penn with an even-par 72 and placed 10th overall in the tournament. Sophomore Kevin Huntington tied for 13th with a 73, freshman Ben Cohen tied for 20th with a 74, and senior Brett Rendina finished with a 79.
That line-up was up in the air until Wednesday night, following the "duel after school," the team's intrasquad qualifying match to determine who would travel to Cornell.
"It came down to the three freshmen competing for the final spot," Blodgett said.
Cohen outperformed his classmates Dillon Hakes and Scott Williams for the chance to hit the road, making his third appearance on the course this season. Cohen, however, knows he can't get too comfortable.
"We have a really strong freshman class," Blodgett said. "We could have put any of the three freshmen in, and we would have been successful this week."
