Men's Golf Finishes 4th at Patriot League Championship

Sunday, April 28

Hamilton, N.Y. (Seven Oaks GC)

All Day

Bucknell University

Patriot League Championship

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Men's Golf Finishes 4th at Patriot League Championship

4/28/2019 4:54:00 PM | Men's Golf

Tanabe earns All-Patriot League honors with T-7th finish

RESULTS

HAMILTON, N.Y. -- The Bucknell men's golf team was in contention for the title throughout most of the day, but Army, Lafayette and Colgate all went well under par in the final round, and the Bison settled for fourth place at the Patriot League Championship at Seven Oaks Golf Club.

Bucknell had to play a full 36 holes on Sunday after play was suspended due to inclement weather and unplayable course conditions a day earlier. The Bison were one shot back entering the second of three rounds, and then they took the lead after a terrific 286 on Sunday morning. That round was keyed by some great work on the par-5 fifth hole, with the six Bison players combining to play the hole in 6-under par, led by eagles from senior Connor O'Brien and sophomore Peter Bradbeer.

With birdies coming fast and furious up and down the leaderboard in the afternoon, Army posted a 10-under-par 278 final round to claim the title, while Lafayette (-4) and Colgate (-6) were also red hot down the stretch to grab the second and third spots ahead of Bucknell, which closed with a 293.

Sophomore Chris Tanabe was the low Bison for the weekend. Tanabe compiled a 3-over 219 (74-72-73) to finish in a tie for seventh place and earn his first All-Patriot League medal. He started his final round on the 10th hole and proceeded to go out in 4-under 32, keyed by three consecutive birdies at 16, 17 and 18. Tanabe also got off to a great start in his second round on Sunday morning, with three birdies in his first five holes.

One of the stories of the weekend was the work of O'Brien, who was unable to play much golf this spring due to a significant leg injury. He debuted last week at the Robert Trent Jones Shootout, and then he battled through cold and wet conditions to post 77-71-73 and a T-13th finish. O'Brien had the eagle, a birdie and 14 pars en route to the 1-under 71 in the second round, and he had three more birdies in the final round but just missed a second straight top-10 Patriot League finish by one stroke.

Seniors J.P. Raftery and Jubal Early also wrapped up their outstanding careers on Sunday. Raftery will graduate as a three-time All-Patriot League performer and one of the top players in team history. He bounced back from an opening-round 78 with a 3-under 69 in the second round, which was tied for the low round in the field. Raftery closed with a 75 and finished T-17th.

Early shot 76 74-81 in his final appearance in Orange & Blue.

Freshman Jason Lohwater had a strong league-championship debut. The Rochester, N.Y., native posted rounds of 76-75-72 to finish T-20th. Bradbeer was T-28th after posting 74-74-78.

Buoyed by that 10-under final round, Army finished at 1-over 865 over 54 holes to claim the championship by eight shots over Lafayette (873). Colgate (873), Bucknell (879), Loyola (885), Navy (886), Holy Cross (894) and Lehigh (903) rounded out the field.

Colgate's Ryan Skae, Army's Nick Turner, and Lafayette's Will Halamandaris all tied for the individual lead at 2-under 214, and Halamandaris went on to win the individual title and a bid to the NCAA Championship regionals with a par on the fourth playoff hole. Colgate's Dean Naime and Loyola's Evan Brown were next at even par. Justin Williamson of Army had the low round of the tournament with a final-round 66.