St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Hartford Hawks Invitational
Red Storm Finish Third At Hartford Hawks Invitational
9/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Sept. 27, 2011
SOUTH KENT, Conn.-- The Red Storm men's golf team finished their second tournament of the fall on Tuesday, placing third at the Hartford Hawks Invitational after shooting a 289-295-293--876(+13). Sophomore Ryan McCormick led the way for St. John's, placing seventh, while junior Pat Wilson also notched his first top-10 finish of the season, tying for eighth.
The Red Storm had to fight some adverse conditions at Bulls Bridge Country Club (South Kent, Conn.), facing a two-hour delay each day of the tournament due to early morning fog. The fog caused the players to have to finish the last few holes of the second round Tuesday morning before beginning the final round.
"There were a lot of distractions out there, and I'm not sure we handled them as well as we could have," head coach Frank Darby said. "Getting delayed and battling the fog hurt us a little bit, and some of the guys were able to bounce back from it and still shoot some pretty good scores."
McCormick, especially, found himself overcoming adversity throughout the second day of the tournament. After being tied for second after the first round, McCormick came back with a 76 in the second round. Then, in the third round, with 13 holes to play, he found himself without a useable putter, and had to use the blade of his sand wedge to putt his way to a 70 in round three for a 215(-1) for the tournament.
"Getting in a little pickle with his putter there with about 13 holes to play, I thought Ryan did a great job of staying composed and coming in under par with a 70," Darby said.
Wilson, who tied for the team lead at the McLaughlin last week, found himself in the top-10 for the second straight year at Bulls Bridge, rebounding from a first round 74 with a 71 and then a 72 to shoot a 217(+1) for the tournament.
"This course isn't extremely forgiving, so little mistakes can really hurt your score," Darby said. "Pat did a good job of minimizing mistakes, and was just one or two different shots away from shooting a really special round."
Senior Mark Costanza notched his second-straight top-15 finish after tying for 13th with a 70-76-75--221(+6). Freshman Dylan Crowley shot a 74 in the second round, then a 77 in the third round, which paired with his first round 76 gave him an 11-over 227 for the tournament. Junior Jeremy Quinn rounded out the scoring for the Red Storm, rebounding from a first round 82 with a 74 and a 76 to shoot a 232(+16) for the event.
"The guys are getting better, and they're making shots. You can tell that they're close, really close to being where we want to be," Darby said. "I think that we're going to fix a few things, and then we're going to do really well down at the Big Five."
The team will take a week off from competition, then head to Plymouth Meeting, Pa. for the Big Five Invitational. For all the latest updates on the Red Storm during the fall season, log on to RedStormSports.com and follow the team (@STJ_MensGolf) on Twitter.
Players Mentioned
