By Jack McLoone

It was another tough weekend for Fordham Golf. The team struggled with endurance over the three-round Macdonald Cup hosted by Yale in New Haven, Conn., finishing 14th out of 14 schools.

To fit in three rounds over two days, the teams played two rounds on Saturday before wrapping up with one final round on Sunday. When asked before the weekend’s tournament about how he prepares for 36 holes in one day, senior Josh Madarang said he would focus more on his fitness to make sure he did not tire out during the second 18. However, endurance did not seem to be a problem for the Rams.

During the second round on Saturday, three of the five Rams golfers improved on their first-round scores, while the two that did not were only worse by one stroke each.

Madarang led the way, following an opening-round 74 with a 71. Freshman Aidan Denning had an even bigger improvement, improving on his opening 84 by six strokes for a 78. But the most drastic improvement was senior Thomas Hayes, who went from an 82 to a 70. The 12-stroke improvement was the best round-to-round change of any golfer at the tournament.

Sophomore Anthony Wells (75 to 76) and Mithran Denbow (74 to 75) were the two that did worse by one stroke.
Despite having the stamina to get through a packed opening Saturday, the Rams faded on Sunday.

“We played great during the second 18 on Saturday, but we were definitely tired when we went back out for the third round on Sunday,” said Madarang.
All but one of the Rams had worse rounds on Sunday than their second rounds on Saturday. Madarang had his worst round of the tournament, shooting a 78 for a final three-round score of 223, tying him for 45th. That is just one stroke off from tying his career best three-round score of 222, set at last year’s MacDonald Cup.
Wells’ 75 put him in a tie for 51st at 226. Denbow had his worst round of the season, shooting an 82 to slide down to a tie for 66th with a 231. Hayes shot an 80 (232, tied for 68th) and Denning an 83 (245, 77th) to wrap up the Rams’ day. As a team, they shot a 912 over the three days, putting them in 14th out of 14.
“As a team, we did not hit a lot of bad shots,” said Madarang. “It’s just that our bad shots put us in awful position to make a good score.”
Illinois won the event with a score of 825, but the winning golfer was James Nicholas of Yale, who shot a three-round 195.

With the calendar turning to fall, the Rams have just two more tournaments before heading to the clubhouse for the winter, starting with the Lehigh Invitational on Friday, Oct. 19.

How will the Rams improve before putting away their clubs for the cold months?

“If we keep having fun as a team, eventually good scores are going to come,” said Madarang.