Men's Golf Four Shots off Lead After First Round of Bucknell Invitational

Monday, October 8

Lewisburg, Pa. (Bucknell GC)

All Day

Bucknell University

Bucknell Invitational

Men's Golf Four Shots off Lead After First Round of Bucknell Invitational

10/8/2018 7:14:00 PM | Men's Golf

Raftery, O'Brien, Lohwater all post sub-par rounds

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Backed by 2-under-par 68s from Connor O'Brien and J.P. Raftery, the Bucknell men's golf team compiled a 4-over 284 in the opening round of the Bucknell Invitational on Monday. The Bison are in third place in the 18-team field and trail front-running Temple by just four strokes heading into Tuesday's final round at the Bucknell Golf Club. Bucknell's round of the day was a 67 from freshman Jason Lohwater, who led the four-man "B" squad to a 302 team total.

O'Brien posted a bogey-free 68, making birdies at the 5th and 11th holes to go along with 16 pars. Raftery made three birdies at 4, 12 and 18, with his lone blemish a bogey at No. 8. Lohwater turned in the best round of his young career. He started with a bang with a birdie at the par-4 opening hole. He followed with 11 straight pars, and then went birdie-bogey-birdie-birdie at 13-16 to get to 3-under.

John Barone of Temple shot a 4-under 66, with Lohwater, La Salle's Dragon Theam, and Humber's Connor Watt all tied for second place. Raftery and O'Brien are the lone players at 2-under, while four others loom one shot back at -1.

Bucknell's top group also counted a 73 from Peter Bradbeer and a 75 from Carter Cook, while discarding a 76 from Chris Tanabe. For the "B" squad, Jubal Early posted a 73, Ashton Radvansky shot 75 in his season debut after coming back from injury, and Dylan Ford carded an 87.

Temple has the team lead after opening with a 280, with defending-champion Wayne State in second at 283. The Bison are third at 284, followed closely by Monmouth (285), Fairleigh Dickinson (286), Navy (287) and Iona (288).

The second and final round will be held on Tuesday with tee times starting at 7:45 a.m. The Bucknell "B" team gets going at 8:39 a.m., with the "A" squad in the final groups with Temple and Wayne State starting at 11:48 a.m.