Men's Golf Heads to Yale for Macdonald Cup

Setting The Scene
What: 2019 Macdonald Cup, hosted by Yale
When: Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 28-29 (54-hole event: Saturday tee times starting at 7:10 a.m. on holes 1 and 10; Sunday shotgun 9 a.m.)
Where: Par-70, 6,749-yard The Course at Yale
The Field: 12 teams (Brown, Bucknell, Colgate, Fairfield, Fordham, Harvard, LaSalle, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Princeton, St. John's and Yale)

About the Bison

Bucknell continued its torrid start to the 2019-20 season with a third straight runner-up finish at the Dartmouth Invitational last weekend. The Bison previously took home second-place trophies at the Alex Lagowitz Memorial Invitational and the Cornell Invitational.
What made last week's performance even more impressive was that the Bison posted rounds of 283 and 279 with only four players. Jack Gardner had to withdraw due to injury, so Bucknell lost the safety net of tossing out its high score. The 6-under team score for 36 holes was a new school record, and the 279 was Bucknell's best-ever on an away golf course.
The Bison have been getting low scores up and down the lineup this fall, but no one has been hotter than junior Chris Tanabe, who was named this week's Patriot League Golfer of the Week after shooting 68-65 at Dartmouth on the way to his second career collegiate win. Tanabe has played eight rounds this fall and five of them have been sub-par, giving him a stellar average of 70.5. In the final round at Daratmouth he tied the school record for low round (65) and low round in relation to par (-6). His 36-hole total of 133 (-9) was also a school record.
Freshman Blake Wisdom finished with a 2-under 69 at Dartmouth, contributing to the 279 team total. He finished T-16th for his first career top-20 finish.
Wisdom is second to Tanabe with a 73.1 average, followed closely by Jason Lohwater (73.3), Gardner (73.5) and Peter Bradbeer (74.4).
Bucknell's head-to-head record through three events is 34-3-1, and the Bison are ranked No. 144 out of 283 Division I teams in the Golfweek Collegiate Rankings.
This week's Macdonald Cup utilizes a play-6/count-4 format (most tournaments are play-5/count-4), so the Bison will get to show off some of their young depth this week. Three freshmen will comprise that six-man team, with, Wisdom, Jackson Bussell and Josh Holtschlag joining Tanabe, Lohwater and Peter Bradbeer.

Bucknell at the Macdonald Cup

The Bison will be competing in the Macdonald Cup for the third year in a row, although the team has also made numerous appearances at Yale's spring tournament through the years.
At the Macdonald Cup, the Bison placed 10th in 2017 and ninth last year.
Bucknell won Yale's spring invitational in April 2016 with rounds of 295-300. John Edler was the runner-up individually, while Connor O'Brien (T-9th, 73-76) and J.P. Raftery (T-27th, 76-77) were also in the lineup for that event.
Bucknell was runner up at Yale last spring, shooting 361-350 in a play-6/count-5 format. The Bison finished five shots behind Yale and were led by a final-round 67 from Bradbeer, who finished T-8th overall.
Bucknell played at Yale six times between 1972-80, twice at the Eastern Championships and four times in Yale's fall invitational. The team's best finish was eighth in Yale's event in the fall of 1978.
Illinois won the Macdonald Cup last season with a 15-under total of 825.
Another Big Ten team is in this year's field in Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are ranked No. 54 in this week's Golfweek Collegiate Rankings.

Up Next

After playing on four straight weekends, the Bison will take next week off and then host the Bucknell Invitational on Oct. 13-14.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Peter Bradbeer

Jackson Bussell

Jack Gardner

Josh Holtschlag

Jason Lohwater

Connor O'Brien

J.P. Raftery

Chris Tanabe

Blake Wisdom