The Men’s Golf team’s fall season has come to an end. After success from last season winning the Patriot League Championship, they looked to use the momentum from then in the new year. Throughout the year, the Greyhounds will have participated in 11 tournaments, five of which occurred in the fall and six that will take place in the spring.
The fall season wrapped up smoothly with the Greyhounds taking home their third second place finish of the season at the Monterrey Collegiate Classic in Mexico. The other two came from The Goat, hosted by the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and the Howard/USF Intercollegiate at Manor Country Club in Rockville, Maryland.
Two of the team’s top three finishes came in the first two tournaments of the season. This is also where we saw two individual Greyhounds make their mark. In his first tournament of his college career, Eli Spaulding ‘28 came in a tie for second place. He shot a three-day score of four under par.
Upperclassmen Jackson Roman ‘25 and Gustavo Rangel ‘26 spoke highly of the first-year from Maine.
“He has been amazing,” Roman said.
“He has been super positive and uplifting to everyone around him,” Rangel said.
The first-year has been a great addition to the team not only on the course, but also contributing to team morale. Spaulding had an impressive summer, winning the Maine State Amateur and competing in the United States Amateur. Rangel also had an individual win at the tournament at the Navy Golf Course.
“One of my goals was to win one,” Rangel said.
He got this goal done, along with stringing together a couple of other good tournaments during the fall.
Roman also had an impressive summer, winning the Connecticut Open at Shorehaven Golf Club over the summer. Like Spaulding, he played in the United States Amateur at Hazeltine National in Minnesota.
“You can ask people around me. I wasn’t playing that well early in the summer, then before the tournament, I went to the range, and something clicked,” Roman said.
The tournament that highlighted their fall season was the Hamptons Intercollegiate at Maidstone Club. This was one of the more competitive fields in the Greyhounds’ schedule and considered one of the big tournaments of the season nationally. Ranked schools and highly ranked amateurs attended the tournament. Luke Clanton, who played in the PGA Tour events over the summer and is the highest ranked amateur golfer according to World Amatuer Golf Rankings also competed. Schools such as Ole Miss, Florida State, Virginia, among others were at the tournament.
“Not many words describe how tough it was,” Rangel said.
“The first round was one of the hardest conditions I have ever seen,” Roman said.
Looking ahead to the spring season, the Greyhounds will go in defending two different tournament titles. These are the Donald Ross Intercollegiate at Mid Pines in North Carolina, and the Patriot League Championship hosted by Bucknell at the Bucknell Golf Course in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The team is looking forward to these tournaments, embracing the fact that they have a target on their back.
“The mindset is to win, and after a bunch of second place finishes, we feel like we are right there. We have to keep doing what we are doing. Winning is always on our mind, but we have to stay in the present,” Roman said.
The Greyhounds will also travel to California to play in The Goodwin, which is hosted by Stanford University and will be another strong field.
“The team has been battle tested with the elements and has improved greatly because of it,” Rangel said.
Like last year, the team looks to make a serious push for the Patriot League Championship, as well as giving them a shot at a NCAA Regional spot.