Despite losing a player to a season-ending injury, the men's golf team displayed great resilience in its first two tournaments of the season. After placing 14th at the Navy Fall Invitational on Friday and Saturday, the Bears rebounded to a third-place finish at the Rehoboth Beach Invitational on Monday, despite the disadvantage of being a man down.
"We didn't play very well (at Navy). It was a little concerning," said Head Coach Mike Hughes. "We had some stumblings on the first holes. But we came back and (Rehoboth) was the best we've played since the Ivy Championship two years ago."
At the first day of the Navy Fall Invitational, John Giannuzzi '10 led the Bears in 38th place with a four-over-par 75 after shooting a consistent 38-39. Michael Amato '11 was right behind him at 77 after shooting a 35 on the back nine. Co-captains Chris Hoffman '09 and Conor Malloy '09 shot an 81 and an 85, respectively, while Donald Kim '12 rounded out Brown's scores with a 92.
Giannuzzi, Hoffman and Malloy all improved their scores significantly on the second day of the Classic, shooting 73, 73 and 77 respectively. Hoffman showed the greatest improvement, lowering his score by eight strokes from Friday to Saturday. Gianuzzi's 148 was good for 18th, while the Bears finished 14th overall with a two-day tournament total of 627, after lowering their first day's total by nine shots.
"We were definitely shaking off some rust (at Navy), being the first tournament of the year," Malloy said. "John played well in both tournaments ... and that second tournament was really good for the team because we got eight scores in the 70s, which was pretty impressive."
The Bears got back in action on Monday at the Rehoboth Beach Invitational for a one-day tournament hosted by the University of Delaware. They took third with a team score of 613 at the Kings Creek Country Club, while playing with just four scoring players after Kim was injured. Problems with the nerves in his middle finger and thumb will have him out through at least this semester, Hughes said. Penn and George Washington came in first and second, respectively.
"It was a tough, quirky golf course," Malloy said. "It was a good accomplishment to finish third."
Gianuzzi led the Bears once again, placing sixth while shooting a 151. The rest of the Bears were right behind him, with Malloy placing 13th with his 153, Hoffman shooting a 154 and Amato turning in a 155.
"It's encouraging to see this after last year," said Hughes, referring to the team's disappointing eighth-place finish at Ivies. "I know they're feeling good about themselves."
Bruno will be holding an open tryout to possibly fill the void left by Kim, but the team will likely be playing with just four when it travels to Newport National Golf Club next week to participate in URI's Adams Cup of Newport on Sept. 22 and 23.
"It's one of the biggest events besides the Ivy Championship," Hughes said. "We've got to be on our A-game."
