College Golf
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship
Buttermark Ties for Seventh Earning All-MAAC Honors
Broncs Eighth of Nine

Orlando, Fla.--The Rider University men's golf team competed at the 2011 Metro Atlantic Athletic Championships, hosted by Disney's Magnolia Golf Course in Orlando, April 29-May 1.

Rider finished the 54 hole, three day tournament at the par 72, 7,073 yard course in eighth place after rounds of 328, 326 and 323 for a 977 total.

Freshman James Buttermark (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) shot rounds of 79, 76 and 75 for a 54-hole total of 230 to finish tied for seventh among 45 golfers, earning All-MAAC honors.  Buttermark finished 13 shots out of the lead.

"James had a great season for anybody," head coach Bob Whartenby said about his rookie finishing tied for seventh.  "He was very consistent during the season and is very hungry to compete and get better.  I'm proud of his performance.  That was his goal from the start of the semester (All-MAAC) and I'm happy for him."

"Overall I think I played pretty well for a freshman," Buttermark said upon the conclusion of the tournament.  "There is still a lot of room for improvement, which I will work on over the summer.  I set a goal for myself to finish in the top 10 and I did it.  I'm happy with my finish and I am looking forward to doing better next year."

Senior Brian Accorsini (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) finished his Rider career in 36th place after scoring 250 (77-88-85).

Junior Chris Wolak (Issaquah, Wash./Hopkinton) and teammate, senior Jordan Wycoff (Fort Washington, Pa./Saint Stephen's Episcopal) both shot 254 to tie for 37th place.  Wolak had rounds of 86, 80, 85 with Wycoff scoring rounds of 86, 84 and 81.  Wolak was 13th at MAACs in 2010 with Wycoff placing 16th last season at MAACs.

Senior Brent Wolgast (Bay City, Mich./Pendleton), who was 11th last season at MAACs, finished 42nd with a total of 256 after rounds of 88, 86 and 82.

Loyola (895) won its third straight championship with a 13 shot margin over second place Iona (908).  Siena was third (909), followed by Fairfield (926), Canisius (937), Saint Peter's (944), Manhattan (955), Rider (977) and Niagara (995).

In 2010, Rider was third (302-312-300), with the Broncs shooting 914, 10 strokes behind Loyola.  Rider was sixth at MAACs in 2009 after a runner-up finish in 2008.

Don Denyse from Siena won the McLeod Memorial Award as the individual champion in a playoff over Patrick McCormick from Loyola.  Denyse shot 73, 75 and 69 for a 54-hole total of 217 and made par on the first hole of the sudden victory playoff.  The award is named after Charles "Scott" McLeod, a 1980 graduate of Iona College, who passed away in 1985 after a life-long fight with kidney-related ailments. McLeod was also a lifetime member of the Pelham Country Club, where the MAAC Tournament was held in the middle 1980's, and was a sponsor of the tournament the first year it was held at Pelham.

Rider returns four letterwinners for the 2011-12 season.

"As a team we had our best score of the three days in tough conditions today," said Whartenby about the team's play on Sunday.  "We have three graduating seniors in Brent, Brian and Jordan this year. They had great careers and they are great kids. They will be missed."

-RU-