Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Golf Hosts Annual Fall Invitational Friday and Saturday
9/13/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 13, 2007
LEWISBURG, Pa. - After a solid first opening performance at the Colgate Invitational last weekend, the Bucknell men's golf team gets to play in familiar surroundings this week when it hosts its annual Bucknell Invitational at the Bucknell Golf Club.
Bison Men's Golf Notebook
About the Bucknell Invitational -
- This year's event features a 16-team field, including two from Bucknell. In addition to the Bison "Orange" and "Blue" teams, the field consists of Patriot League rivals Colgate, Lafayette and Lehigh, along with Duquesne, Fordham, La Salle, Laval, Ottawa, defending champion Rider, Robert Morris, Saint Francis (Pa.), St. Peter's, Susquehanna and Temple.
- It is a 54-hole tournament, consisting of 36 holes on Friday and 18 on Saturday. Play begins on Friday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start and on Saturday with a 9 a.m. shotgun.
- Bucknell's "Orange" squad will consist of seniors Keita Aoki (Tokyo, Japan/St. Mary's International School), Rahul Desai (Avon, Conn./Kingswood-Oxford) and Stuart Lindgren (Richfield, Minn./Richfield), along with sophomores Brian Bartow (Rye, N.Y./Rye Neck) and Andrew Cohen (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck).
- Freshmen Ben Mattingly (Fishers, Ind./Park Tudor) and Andrew Wallisch (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) will make their collegiate debuts with the "Blue" team. They will be joined by junior Brian Poe (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) and sophomores Jeff Pike (Rye, N.Y./Rye) and Ryan Schneiter (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest).
- Bucknell has fared well in this event in recent years, winning it in both 2003 and 2004 while finishing second in 2005 and 2006. A year ago, the Bison split up into an all-senior team and an all-underclass team, and the youngesters (Aoki and then-freshmen Bartow, Cohen, Pike and Schneiter) took second place and the seniors third. Rider took first place.
- The Bison shot a school-record team score of 281 here in the final round of the 2005 event, when they finished second to St. Bonaventure. - In 2004, Bucknell won by a whopping 20 strokes over runner-up Cornell. Led by medalist Kyle Moran, the Bison claimed the top three individual places.
- Bucknell's win here in 2003 was its first tournament victory in 16 years.
About the Bison in 2007 -
- Bucknell has just one competition under its belt thus far, a second-place finish at last week's Colgate Invitational at Seven Oaks GC. The Bison shot 299-301 and fell by three shots to host Colgate.
- Desai was the team's top finisher, placing second to Colgate's Ricky Hayes. Desai opened with a career-best 2-under-par 70, then shot 75 in the final round.
- Bartow finished T-6th with rounds of 76-71. Considering his 1-under 71 on Sunday came mostly in a driving rain, coach Jim Cotner called it "one of the top rounds I've seen here."
- Also for Bucknell, Lindgren placed T-11th (75-78), Poe finished 28th (77-79) and Schneiter was T-39th (81-77).
Looking Ahead -
- Next Sunday and Monday the Bison head to Olean, N.Y., for St. Bonaventure's Leo Keenan Invitational at Bartlett CC. Bucknell finished ninth there last year.
