St. Maxens gives maximum effort

This weekend’s two-day Big 5 Invitational was a series of ups and downs for freshman Colin St. Maxens and the Penn men’s golf team.

After shooting a 309 Saturday, the Quakers found themselves in 13th place out of 17 teams at the event.

But they were able to rebound quickly Sunday and tied Binghamton for fourth place with an overall two-round total of 600 at the 36-hole, 89-golfer weekend Invitational.

Penn finished behind first-place Campbell (587), Richmond (591) and Ivy foe Yale (594).

In addition to tying for fourth place overall, the Quakers beat all Philadelphia teams to earn Big 5 bragging rights for the fourth time in the eight-year history of the Invitational.

Penn finished above ninth-place Villanova (613), 13th-place Temple (616), 16th-place St. Joseph’s (628), and 17th-place La Salle (705).

“We came in hoping to win the Big Five title,” men’s golf coach Scott Allen said. “We just did what we needed to do and Colin led the way. I was just really excited to see the guys bounce back.”

The Quakers also finished ahead of Ivy League rivals Harvard, Cornell, and Princeton, which placed sixth, eighth, and thirteenth, respectively.

And it was St. Maxens’ performance Sunday that was the story of the day.

The Washington, D.C. native was a major factor in the Quakers’ overall lackluster showing Saturday, shooting a team-worst round of 82.

But St. Maxens certainly made up for it Sunday, as he tied a school record for lowest round with a score of 65, a mark that had been previously set in 2007 by current Penn senior Chance Pipitone.

St. Maxens’ second round score not only had historical significance, but was also the lowest round of the tournament and the lowest round shot by any Big 5 Invitational golfer.

“Colin’s performance was spectacular today,” Allen said. “He just got out today and got out on a roll. We kept waiting as a freshman to see if he would crack a little bit and give some back, but he kept placing more birdies and never seemed fazed. It was a spectacular performance. He was the man.”

Campbell’s Zak Drescher registered the only other sub-70 round in the tournament with a score of 67 on the first day of competition.

The Quakers will be looking to carry the momentum from the Big 5 Invitational into next weekend’s Ivy League Match Play Championship in Mattapoisett, Mass.

According to Allen, the Quakers will be using this week to “see who will fill out the lineup”. He also stated that the Quakers will have to formulate a “different strategy and mindset going into match play” and “will have to be a little more aggressive” than usual.

“After the way we played yesterday when we were behind several fellow Ivy League schools in the standings and were able to make the move to catch the other Ivies with the exception of Yale, it gives the guys a lot of confidence for next weekend,” Allen said.

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