Staff Writer

After a much needed off week, the Fordham golf team competed in the Macdonald Cup at the Yale Golf Course in New Haven, Conn. and finished tied for 11th out of 14 teams.

The Rams hoped that they would turn in their best finish of the season this past weekend, and they seemed poised to do so after the first round. After Saturday morning’s 18, the team was in seventh place and only four shots back of fourth place.

The team turned in a 17-over-par 297 on Saturday afternoon and fell into a tie for 10th place, with only Sunday morning’s final round remaining.

After other teams in the tournament field completed second round play on Sunday morning, Fordham turned in a 22-over-par 302 to conclude play. This was good for a tie for 11th place with Brown University.

Considering the team’s overall score of 886 on the par 70 Yale Golf Course, the team turned in its lowest score of the fall season. Its 47-over-par total was 17 shots better than its previous season best of 64-over-par at the Colgate Invitational.

Senior co-captain Brandon Nolan realized that the team played quite well this weekend.

“We could have played a little better,” Nolan said. “But overall we did not score that bad. The competition was just really good.”

The Rams also made strides forward individually. All six Ram golfers posted their lowest cumulative scores of the season.

Junior co-captain Jeff Hogan led the team, posting a three round cumulative score of 6-over-par. Hogan’s performance was good for a tie for 24th place.

Nolan was second best for the Rams, recording a 12-over-par 222, and Ben Alcorn shot 13-over-par.

Brian Engstrom shot 24-over par.

“I’d say I was neutral,” Engstrom said. “[I] left a lot of shots out there, [I] could have thrown out some low 70s if I just kept the focus.”

Alcorn speculated that a season best performance like this was on the horizon following the Cornell Invitational. “We know our hard work in practice will eventually pay off in our tournaments,” Alcorn said.

This week’s performance may not have resulted in an addition to the Rose Hill hardware collection, but the team is certainly progressing toward finding its identity before the spring competitive season.

The Fordham golf team is next in action this weekend at the Temple Invitational in Huntington Valley, Pa. at Philmont Country Club.

“Next week’s course in Philadelphia is a great course, just extremely hard,” Nolan said. “So we will be practicing hard to make sure we are ready for its challenges. It’s another strong field, so hopefully we can have a great showing there and get some confidence heading into the final events of the fall.”