College Golf
Rider 10th of 12 at St. Bonnie
OLEAN, NY-The Broncs placed 10th of 12 teams at the 22nd Annual Leo Keenan Invitational, hosted by Saint Bonaventure Sunday and Monday. Rider shot a 317 on Sunday but came back to have a 315 Monday. "We did improve a little bit," said Rider head coach Bob Whartenby.
"We got off to a great start today," Whartenby said. "We had a lot of guys making a lot of pars in the beginning. We got to the tougher holes and couldn't hold it together."
For Rider, senior Brent Wolgast (Bay City, Mich./Pendleton) had a 77 on Monday after an 80 on Sunday for a total of 157 to place 37th among the 61 golfers. The 77 was the 29th best round of the day.
Last year Wolgast finished 14th overall (74/75) at the Leo Keenan.
Rider senior Brian Accorsini (Hopkinton, Mass/Hopkinton) shot a 76 on Sunday but had an 82 on Monday on the par 70, 6,038 yard Bartlett Country Club course to finish with a 158, good for 46th place.
"Brian needs to get a little bit more consistent on the greens," Whartenby said. "He struggled today on the greens."
Accorsini has had success on this course before, finishing fifth in the 2008 Leo Keenan as a freshman and was 19th last year (73/78). "He has a really good long game," Whartenby said of team captain and Communication major Accorsini, who was an All-MAAC golfer as a freshman. "When his putter gets on a roll, that's when he shoots really low. A four foot putt equals a 280 yard drive. They're all important. Once he starts making more putts he'll be scoring a lot better."
Freshman James Buttermark (Staten Island, N.Y/Monsignor Farrell) shot a 77 Monday after his 81 on Sunday to also place 46th at 158.
"James played great," Whartenby said. "He had one bad hole all day. He made a triple bogie and still shot 77. He shows a lot of potential. He just needs to work on the short game and tighten everything up and he'll be able to post some good rounds."
Junior Chris Wolak (Issaquah, Wash./Hopkinton) shot a 79 on Monday after an 80 Sunday for a total of 159 to place 48th. Wolak finished 47th last year (80/78).
Senior Jordan Wycoff (Fort Washington, Pa./Saint Stephen's Episcopal) had an 82 on Monday after an 83 on Sunday for a total of 165 to place 58th.
Host St. Bonaventure won the event with a two-day total of 581, followed by Saint Francis-Pa at 584.
Rider plays at Cornell September 25-26. "Hopefully next week at Cornell we can put it all together," Whartenby said. "54 holes and it will be a little bit more competitive. They'll be some MAAC teams there and some Ivys. It should be a good tournament."
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