Photo by PhotoMediaDB
TAMPA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Men's Golf Team finished second out of eight teams in their regular season finale, the Florida College Invitational. The tournament was a good preview of the upcoming Sun Conference Tournament as all of the teams except for the host, Florida College, were Sun Conference teams.
The Gyrenes remained in the second place all three rounds, finishing 23 strokes ahead of the third place St. Thomas B team.
Alex Veneziano led the team in the first round, shooting just one over par at 73. He finished one under par on the back nine to make up a stroke from the front nine. Matt Mullen was right behind him with a 77, followed by Ty Kaufman and Joe Hamilton with 80s. Daniel Nycum finished day one with an 82 and was the scratch score of the round, despite finishing tied with Mullen and Kaufman for the most birdies in the round with four.
Round two was the best round for the team, finishing at a tournament best 14 over par. Veneziano and Kaufman both led the team with even 72s in the second round. Veneziano posted his second under par set of nine holes, shooting a 35 on the front nine. Just one bogey in the back nine brought him back to even on the round. Kaufman finished even on both sets of nine with two birdies and two bogeys. Hamilton was even through nine but finished the round with a 77. Rounding out the group was Mullen with an 81. Mullen had the most birdies on the team in the second round with four.
Ave Maria made up three strokes against the first-round leader, the St. Thomas A team, and was just two strokes behind the Bobcats heading into the final round.
The final round was unkind to all eight teams. The St. Thomas A team had the best day at a combined 32 over par. The Gyrenes were right behind them in second at 37 over. Mullen led the team with a 79, followed by Hamilton at 80 and Veneziano and Kaufman at 83. Mullen led the team with three birdies.
At +73 after three rounds, the Gyrenes were just seven strokes back of the winning St. Thomas A team. The second-place finish is the highest finish for the Gyrenes this season and a great confidence booster heading into the conference tournament.
Veneziano had the best solo finish for the Gyrenes, placing fourth in the field of 45 with a final score of +12 over the three rounds.
Ave Maria gets the next week off before heading north to Brunswick, Georgia, for the Sun Conference Championship April 27-29. The Gyrenes will play the Pine Lakes Course at the Jekyll Island Golf Club with a conference championship on the line.
