Men’s Golf Places Second (Tied) At JWU Invitational

CRANSTON, R.I. – The Endicott men's golf team finished second overall (tied) at the Johnson & Wales University (JWU) Invitational this weekend, held at the Cranston Country Club.

Williams College took top honors at the two-day invitational with a score of 630, while Endicott and Rhode Island College (RIC) tied for second place with an identical two-day score of 636. Manhattanville College was fourth (637), and Middlebury rounded out the top-5 with a two-day score of 638.

As a team, Endicott shot a 329 on day one, but rebounded during Sunday's portion of the JWU Invitational with a score of 307.

Austin Teal (Loudonville, N.Y.) posted the highest individual placement for the Gulls as the senior ranked third overall (153 score, 78 / 75). Drew Benshoff (Concord, Mass.) checked in at ninth overall (157 score, 83 / 74) among the field of nearly 100 golfers, while Athan Goulos (Peabody, Mass.) tied for 15th overall (159 score, 80 / 79).

Alex Viola (Brunswick, Maine) compiled a two-day score of 170 (88 / 82) to place tied for 64th, and Ben Palazzo (Farmington, Conn.) finished tied for 67th with a two-day score of 171 (92 / 79).

TOP QUOTE

"Once again for a third straight weekend our team was battling the elements with 20 mile per hour sustained winds and up to 30 mile per hour gusts. Day one was up for grabs with that type of wind and we let the gap get a little too wide between ourselves and the lead," said Endicott men's golf head coach Tom Smith. "Day two featured calm conditions which allowed the guys to settle down and shoot the lowest team total of the tournament! When you see your players fight back like they did after a tough first day against the regions top teams, that's a special feeling as coach. We need to take this runner-up finish and bring it straight to the CCC Championship in two weeks. Now it's time to fine tune our swings and be ready to go low when its all on the line!"

BEYOND THE SCORECARD

• Teal has posted six top-10 finishes this season. 
• The Gulls have now finished second overall (tied) for the second straight invitational after ranking tied for seventh on day one (Hampton Inn Classic / JWU Invitational).
• Benshoff registered his fifth top-10 finish of the 2015-16 campaign this weekend.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott will play in the Western New England University (WNEU) Invitational on Thursday, April 21 at the Veterans Memorial Golf Course in Springfield, Massachusetts. 

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