By Sam Belden
Matt Schiller led the Rams, posting a three round total of six-over-par. Courtesy of L.C. Nottoasen: Flickr.
This past weekend, Fordham Golf continued the fall portion of its season with a tie for 12th at the Hartford Hawk Invitational. The Rams enjoyed their share of highlights over the course of the three rounds but ultimately failed to gain any serious momentum and finished near the middle of the 20-team pack. The host course, Bull’s Bridge Golf Club, is a respected Tom Fazio design located in South Kent, Connecticut.
The Rams opened the event with a 300, putting them in 12th place after the first round. However, they failed to build off of that performance. Mediocre play and a few especially poor rounds turned out to doom Fordham as it just barely managed to tread water on the crowded leaderboard.
After opening the season with a tie for fourth at the Ryan Lee Memorial Tournament, things were looking up for the Rams, so this level of regression is disappointing. It must be noted, however, Fordham was up against several formidable opponents, such as Connecticut, Towson and Rutgers.
Sophomore Matt Schiller shot the lowest score of any Fordham player. After opening with a strong 70 that put him even with some of the most prominent players in the field, the Ohio native finished with rounds of 75 and 77 en route to a tie for 26th.
The other Rams could not keep up. Sophomore Joseph Trim shot a 76 and two 77s to tie for 57th. Freshman Tommy Hayes wound up with a trio of 78s, good for a tie for 70th. Junior Fernando Morett also tied for 70th, thanks to rounds of 78, 81 and 77. Sophomore James Mongey brought up the rear for Fordham shooting rounds of 79, 87 and 82 and tying for 104th place.
Connecticut won the tournament by a margin of 13 strokes. The Huskies’ top player, Eric Dietrich, shot rounds of 67, 69 and 72 to wind up in solo second. Kyle Buschmann of Bryant was the medalist.
The team will see its next action at this weekend’s Quechee Club Collegiate Challenge, hosted by Dartmouth. In last year’s playing of the event, Schiller tied for 33rd and Trim tied for 53rd. Junior Oscar Cabanas, who saw action in the first event of this fall season, also competed, tying for 46th.
If all goes according to plan, that experience will come in handy as the Rams try to get their season going again.
