Senior Jeff Hogan led the way for the Rams, shooting a score of 16 over par and tying for 25th place. He started the tournament solidly, notching back-to-back rounds of 75 in the first two rounds. He faltered in the third round, however, getting off to a sluggish start on the front nine before righting the ship on the back. It all added up to a closing 82.
Despite not finishing as strongly as possible, Hogan was optimistic about his chances to shoot some low scores this season. “I’m disappointed with the way I finished, but I’m happy with where my game is at,” he stated. He was highly complimentary of the event itself. “The Colgate Invitational is one of the best tournaments we play in all year. The course is in fantastic shape and the tournament is well organized.”
While the course may have been in good condition, more than one member of the squad spoke to its difficulty. “The course was set up to play very hard, long rough and very fast greens,” said senior Andrew Dufresne, who tied for 56th.
These sentiments were echoed by senior Ben Alcorn, whose tie for 33rd place was highlighted by a second round of 76. “The rough was thick and the greens were very fast,” he said. “I thought we underperformed.”
The remaining Rams, Brian Engstrom and Fernando Morett, tied for 46th and 74th, respectively.
In the end, Army was the winner of the tournament; all five of its players finished in the top 10. The medalist, however, was Ryan Allison of Colgate, who shot no higher than 73 in any of his three rounds.
Despite a mediocre finish, the members of the Fordham squad expressed confidence, both for this year and for the future.
“With four seniors on the team this year and a lot of tournaments under the belt, we can go out and put up some low scores and hopefully see some results,” said Dufresne. “With it being our last year of competitive golf, I think we will push hard to outperform some of our expectations and try to leave college golf on a high note.”
Hogan is enthusiastic about the team’s prospects for future seasons. “I feel like with the newcomers, we have a lot of depth on this team, and the future looks bright.”
Before that future comes, however, the Rams have some work to do this season, with the Adams Cup taking place on Sept. 15 and 16 and the Cornell Invitational this weekend.
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Sam Belden is a Contributing Writer for The Fordham Ram.
