April 15, 2009
EASTON, Pa. - An already strong spring season for Villanova continued this past weekend with the team's best tournament finish of the year, including both the fall and spring season. The Wildcats came in second out of 21 teams at the Lafayette Invitational, securing its best finish by moving up four spots in the field during the second round.
Sophomore Brendan Kelly (Annapolis, Md.) tied for first place in the individual standings and finished second based on the outcome of a sudden death playoff with Justin Martinson of Delaware. Both players shot par on the first playoff hole before Martinson birdied the next hole to claim medalist honors. The pair each finished with a two-round score of 145 (+1) at the Center Valley Country Club. They finished one stroke ahead of two other golfers that tied for third place.
Villanova opened the tournament with a round of 315 on Saturday and was tied with Robert Morris for fifth place in the field. The team then proceeded to cut 23 strokes off of its team score in Sunday's second round, posting the second best team score of the day and moving up to second place. The Wildcats finished 15 strokes behind off the winning pace set by Lehigh with a final score of 315-292=607 (+31).
Kelly led the way for Villanova as four of the five members of the team's lineup finished in the top 40 out of 110 golfers. Kelly came in at 74-71=145 and his final round score of 71 was one of just seven rounds under par recorded in the entire tournament. He was followed by senior Doug Stadler (Wexford, Pa.) in a tie for 12th place at 76-74=150 (+6). Senior Brett Bergman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) tied for 26th place with scores of 82-73=155 (+11) and sophomore Colin List (Boynton Beach, Fla.) carded rounds of 83-74=157 (+13) to tie for 37th place.
All four counting scores for the Wildcats on Sunday were a 74 or better as the team posted its best score (relative to par) since a plus-three 291 in the second round of the Sea Trail Invitational on September 21, 2007.
Sophomore Conor Casey (Madison, N.J.) tied for 79th place individually with rounds of 89-76=165 (+21).
Lehigh was four strokes ahead of Villanova entering the final round of play but shaved 30 points off its first round score to come in at 311-281=592 (+16). The Mountain Hawks put three players in the top 10 of the field, including Shane Gilroy in a tie for third place and Steve Suarez in a tie for fifth. Suarez recorded the low round of the tournament with a second round score of 65 (-7).
Martinson had a one stroke lead over Kelly after one round of play and shot even par on Sunday to allow Kelly to move into a first place tie and set up the playoff. Delaware finished third in the field overall, one stroke behind the Wildcats. Drexel (612), Colgate (618) and Siena (618) rounded out the top five teams.
Villanova plays in the Rehoboth Beach Spring Invite on Monday at Kings Creek Country Club.
NOTES: Kelly had six birdies, 23 pars and seven bogeys in the tournament ... He was tied for fifth among all players with the most birdies ... Kelly and Stadler tied for second in the field with a 4.05 stroke average (+1) on the par-4 holes, while Bergman tied for second in par-5 scoring at 4.50 (-4) ... As a team, Villanova led the entire field in par-5 scoring at 4.85 (-6), five strokes better than Bucknell ... The Wildcats also tallied 109 pars, second best in the field and just one fewer than Lehigh's 110.
