Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Golf Returns to Navy for Patriot League Championship
4/29/2011 8:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 28, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell men's golf team returns to Annapolis, Md., for this week's Patriot League Championship, which gets underway Saturday at the U.S. Naval Academy Golf Course. Teams will play 36 holes on Saturday and 18 on Sunday with an automatic berth in the NCAA Regionals on the line.
Bucknell has captured three of the last five Patriot League titles, winning in 2006, 2007 and 2009. Lafayette is the defending team champion, while the Leopards' Rob Robertson is the reigning individual titlist. Navy has home course advantage, and while the Midshipmen have won five Patriot League titles, just one has come in four previous tournaments held at the USNA GC.
In fact, the last time the event was held in Annapolis in 2006, Bucknell won the title by two shots over Army, with Charlie Waddell winning his second straight individual crown.
Bucknell should be familiar with the course, as it was there two weeks ago for the Navy Spring Invitational. The Bison opened with a round of 319 in brutal weather conditions, then shot 301 in the second round to finish eighth out of 20 teams.
Junior Will Bachman and sophomore Jon Hartman both posted 1-over-par 72s in the second round, with Bachman finishing a team-best T-16th.
Bachman and Hartman will be two of the six Bison in the lineup this weekend (the Patriot League Tournament utilizes a play-6, count-4 format). Joining them will be seniors Ben Mattingly and Parker Phillips, sophomore Dan Bernard and freshman Schuyler Stitzer.
Hartman has posted the team's best scoring average in 2010-11 with a very solid 74.5. He averaged 73.1 in the fall, when he was runner-up at the Bucknell Invitational and T-7th at the Joe Agee Invitational. Hartman has three sub-par rounds this season, including a 2-under 68 at Bucknell in the fall.
Bernard has the team's best spring average at 75.4. That includes a pair of 1-over 72s at the Wilmington Invitational earlier this month, where he finished T-4th for his second top-10 of the year.
Bachman began his season with an eight-birdie, 6-under 66 in the final round of the Colgate Invitational, and he boasts a 76.4 full-season average. This will be his third straight Patriot League Championship appearance,
Mattingly will be making his fourth Patriot League Championship appearance. His best finish is T-11th in 2009, when he just missed earning all-conference honors. Mattingly has a 77.2 average this season, with a top finish of T-11th at the Colgate Invitational.
Like the sophomores, Bernard and Hartman, this will be the first PL tourney for Stitzer, who is enjoying a very strong rookie year. Stizter has three top-20 finishes and a 76.2 average. He was T-11th at the Cornell Invitational, where he closed with a 1-under 71. Stitzer also shot 1-under at the Joe Agee Invitational.
Phillips played as an individual at Navy two weeks ago, shooting 86-85. But he played well in team qualifying last week and will be playing in the postseason for the second time in his career. Phillips was in the lineup in 2009 when Bucknell last won the Patriot League title.
