With two more events down for the Fordham golf team, they continue what has been a much-improved season. The Rams finished fourth out of nine teams at their third Connecticut event of the season at Tumble Brook Country Club. The one-day event hosted by the University of Hartford saw three Rams finish within the top 15. They did falter a bit with a tie for ninth place at the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Villanova University, but they defeated some quality opponents and have continued to stay out of the basement of the tournaments thus far. 

John Kryscio has continued his fantastic sophomore campaign by finishing at the top of the Rams leaderboard once again. He shot a 73 (+1) in Hartford to finish in a tie for 12th alongside sophomore teammate P.J. O’Rourke at the Hartford Invitational. In Philadelphia, it was graduate student Tomas Nieves who finished with the lowest score amongst the Rams with a two-day total of 144 (+4), good enough for a T-10 finish. 

The depth through the lineup is key for the Rams. Last year, it was really only Chan Park and O’Rourke who finished with the low scores, but now Kryscio, O’Rourke, Nieves and sophomore Andreas Aivazoglou can post low scores on a weekly basis. 

The next event the Rams will take part in is this weekend at the Abarta Coca-Cola Collegiate Invitational hosted by Lafayette College. The Leopards are one of the teams that beat the Rams at Villanova, posting a 582 (+22), good enough for sixth place. 

The Wildcat Invitational stopped the season-long trend of the Rams barely competing against anyone in the Atlantic 10. The Rams were projected to be at the bottom of the standings in the A-10 but because they barely played any of those other squads, and it is hard to predict how the A-10 tournament will play out for Fordham. St. Joseph’s University was at the Wildcat Invitational and placed last out of the 16 teams. They were in last after day one and compounded that with a +22 performance on day two. The Hawks were projected to place above the Rams this season. La Salle also participated and came in T-14. The Rams outpaced both of the tournament’s A-10 schools in what was a promising performance for the squad. 

After Lafayette, the team will head down to Reunion Golf Club in Orlando to participate in the first A-10 Championship since 2019. Many of the players on the squad have not played in an A-10 tournament yet, including Kryscio, so it will be interesting to see how the Rams respond to the increased challenge. 

All in all, this week continues a successful 2021 campaign for the Rams as they embark on the final stretch. This has been a promising year for the future of Fordham Golf. The positives of having many players who have not played in an A-10 championship yet is that this core will return next fall with higher expectations within the conference. Maybe they won’t get to the level of the dominant Virginia Commonwealth University squad, but they will have heightened expectations, talent and experience heading into the 2021-22 campaign.