HELLERTOWN, Pa.—Graduate student Ambrose Abbracciamento (Newtown, Pa.) pulled away from the field to win the ABARTA Coca-Cola Collegiate Invitational with a 36-hole score of 136 (-8) at the Steel Club on Monday afternoon. Abbracciamento caught fire in the second round on Monday when he made five birdies and an eagle en route to shooting 66 (-6) on the par-72 course which played 6,655 yards from the Blue tees. Abbracciamento finished three strokes ahead of the individual runner-up from St. Bonaventure and helped the Wildcats place third out of 13 teams at the two-day tournament hosted by Lafayette.
 
Monday's round by Abbracciamento was the best relative to par (-6) for a Villanova golfer since Connor Daly shot 64 on the par-70 Red Course at Bethpage State Park in the opening round of The Doc Gimmler on September 9, 2017. The last player from the Wildcats to have a round of 66 was Mark Benevento who shot 66 (-5) on the par-71 course at White Manor CC in the second round of a home tournament on September 29, 2018. Abbracciamento himself actually has one lower round during his collegiate career, as he carded a 65 (-7) in the final round of the Loyola Intercollegiate as a sophomore at the University of Hartford during the Spring 2018 season.
 
Regardless of the superlatives, Monday's round for Abbracciamento carried plenty of significance for a Villanova team which was playing its final round before opening play at the BIG EAST Championships in Bowling Green, Fla. next Monday (April 26). Abbracciamento teed off from the fifth hole in a shotgun start at 9:30 a.m. on Monday and made par on the first four holes he played before making a birdie on the ninth. He made his only bogey of the day at No. 13, but bounced back with birdies on the 14^th and 15^th to get to three-under through 11 holes. He sealed the tournament title with an eagle on the second and birdie on the third when he was approaching the finish line.


Ambrose Abbracciamento eagled the par-4 second hole at the Steel Club in the second round on Monday. Take a look at the hole here.
 
The top four scorers for the Wildcats all finished in the top 21 of the field of 76 golfers. Junior Noah Peck (Hunt Valley, Md.) tied for 18^th place with a final score of 75-74=149 (+5), while senior Max Siegfried (Villanova, Pa.) and freshman Peter Weaver (Frontenac, Mo.) each wound up at 150 (+6) for the tournament. Weaver carded round of 76 and 74 over two days, while Siegfried matched Abbracciamento with a round of 70 on Sunday afternoon before coming back with an 80 in the second round. Senior Reb Banas (Winnetka, Ill.) was also in action for Villanova and posted scores of 78-84=162 (+18).
 
Sophomore Luke Alexander (Rochester, Minn.) competed as an individual at the tournament and finished with rounds of 77-79=156 (+14). He had one of the highlights for the Wildcats in Sunday's opening round when he eagled the 460-yard, par-five 15^th hole.
 
Villanova finished with a team score of 291-294=585 (+9) at the tournament and came in just three strokes behind second place Rider (582), while team champion Lehigh was the lone school to shoot under par over 36 holes and posted a winning team score of 574 (-2).
 
Abbracciamento has won at least a share of three tournament titles during his collegiate career. He won the Loyola Intercollegiate during the Fall 2018 season, tied for the lead at the LuLu Spring Invite at LuLu Country Club in Glenside earlier this season and added another accolade with his impressive showing on Monday afternoon.