Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Golf Set for Patriot League Championship
4/25/2013 8:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 25, 2013
LEWISBURG, Pa. --The Bucknell men's golf team heads to Saucon Valley Country Club in the Lehigh Valley for this weekend's Patriot League Championship. The 54-hole event runs Saturday and Sunday, with the champion receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. Live results will be available through Golfstat.
Unlike the five-man teams in play for most collegiate events, the Patriot League Championship permits each team to start six players, with the top four scorers counting in each round.
Navy is the defending champion, and the Midshipmen were picked to repeat in the preseason poll of coaches and sports information directors. Army was a close second in the poll, followed by Lehigh, Bucknell, Lafayette, Colgate and Holy Cross.
Under head coach Jim Cotner, Bucknell captured Patriot League titles in 2006, 2007 and 2009 and took second in 2005 and 2009. The Bison finished fourth on their home course last season, led by a runner-up finish from then-freshman Peter Scialabba, who was awarded Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors.
Scialabba is back in the lineup this season, joined by senior Dan Bernard, juniors Schuyler Stitzer, Thomas Walter and Billy Wright, and sophomore Zach Pogust.
Bernard had a spectacular fall season, when he played to a 74.4 stroke average, won the Bucknell Invitational and finished in the top 10 at three other events. The team's scores have been a bit more elevated in the frosty spring conditions, but Bernard has still managed a 77.2 average and shot 74 or better four times in his nine spring rounds.
Stitzer has been Bucknell's most consistent player in the spring. His 76.6 spring average is the best on the squad. Two weeks ago at the Manor Intercollegiate in Virginia he posted two straight sub-par rounds and finished in a tie for fourth place. Stitzer averaged 76.2 in the fall, and he has only three rounds in the 80s all year long.
Scialabba has been solid as well, averaging 78.0 in the spring and 78.1 for the full season. He closed with a 1-over 72 in a T-20th finish at Villanova's Wildcat Invitational earlier this month. He shot 69-72-76 at last year's Patriot League Championship and held the 36-hole lead before settling for second behind Army's William Park.
Walter, Wright and Pogust will all be playing in the Patriot League Championship for the first time. Walter had a great start to his fall season derailed temporarily by an appendectomy, but he came back strong, posting a 77.0 fall average. That included a final-round 71 at the Bucknell Invitational.
Pogust earned his spot on the roster through qualifying and he has been a frequent contributor all year. He averaged 76.4 in the fall, highlighted by a T-5th showing with rounds of 75-75-71 at the Bucknell Invitational. He shot 79-77 at the Lafayette Invitational in his lone spring start.
Wright has played at the Lafayette Invitational and Manor Intercollegiate this spring and has an 80.2 average with a low round of 76.
Three Bison saw the Saucon Valley course at the Lehigh Invitational back in October. The Bison finished in fifth place at that event, with Bernard (77-78), Pogust (80-78) and Stitzer (82-79) contributing.
This will be the fourth time Saucon Valley has hosted this event. Navy won titles there in 2003 and 2008, and host Lehigh took the championship at Saucon Valley in 1996.
The teams will play 36 holes on Saturday, with tee times slated for 8 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Sunday's final round is also scheduled to start at 8 a.m., with the leaders going off at 9:10 a.m.
