Golf Travels to Cornell Invitational

ITHACA, N.Y. – Coming off of a third-place finish at the 23rd Annual Leo Keenan Invitational on Monday, the St. Bonaventure golf team travels to Robert Trent Jones Golf Course at Cornell this weekend for the Cornell Invitational.

Saturday will feature teams playing 36 holes, with the final 18 to be played on Sunday. The Bonnies will face defending champion Binghamton, along with Bucknell, Fordham, Lafayette, Siena, Canisius, Colgate, Rider, Columbia and event host Cornell, among others. Cornell also played in the Leo Keenan Invitational, finishing fifth at the event.

This weekend will mark the seventh consecutive season in which the Bonnies have participated in the invite, winning the 54-hole tournament in 2007. Last year, St. Bonaventure finished sixth of 14 teams at the par-72 course with a score of 903, 35 strokes behind champion Binghamton.

Then-sophomore Brian McKenna paced the Bonnies on an individual level with a 5-over 221, placing him in a tie for 11th overall and 10 strokes behind medalist Jake Katz of Binghamton. Then-junior Kevin Lewis finished second on the team with a 6-over 222, good enough for a 16th-place tie overall.

Binghamton's Trevor Fiedler is the top returning individual from last year's event, finishing second with a 3-under 213. Other returning top performers include Columbia's Jordan Lee (217, fifth place) and Michael Yiu (220, tied for eighth), Siena's David Gushee (219, tied for sixth) and Cornell's John Dean (220, tied for eighth).

"The Robert Trent Jones course is a good test," head coach John Powers said of the famous architect's alma mater course. "We're looking to build on a solid team effort from last weekend. There are some good teams we would really like to beat that will be in the field this weekend."

The Bonnies look to continue their improved play from this past weekend as they finished third of 11 teams at the Keenan with a team total of 589, 18 strokes behind winner Robert Morris.

Individually, McKenna led the Brown and White with a 6-over 146 in the 36-hole event, eight strokes behind medalist Jess Ferrell of Fairmont State. McKenna recovered from a 7-over 77 in the first round to finish in the top 10.

Lewis and sophomore Chris Mackey finished in a tie for 12th place with a 7-over 147, while junior Greg Horvath ended in a tie for 20th with a 9-over 149. Freshman Pierce Terrance led the group of first-year players with a 14-over 154, good enough for a 35th-place tie.

Following the Cornell Invite, the Bonnies will be back in action on Oct. 3 and 4 when they play in the John Telich, Sr. Cleveland State Invitational at Canterbury Golf Course in Cleveland.