On September 23 and 24, the Colgate men’s golf team traveled to nearby Ithaca, New York to participate in the Cornell Invi­tational. The Raiders had what Head Coach Keith Tyburski called “a very strong, [pleas­ing] effort,” and posted an impressive fifth place overall. The team’s performance was also highlighted by several promising individual performances. Binghamton University won the tournament, followed closely by Colum­bia University and University of Delaware in second and third places, respectively.

Junior assistant captain Will Delano posted yet another respectable three rounds, firing a total score of 220 (73-75-72). The always-consistent Delano placed in a tie for twelfth overall in the tournament with first-year team­mate Michael Grayson. Grayson struggled in the first round, opening with a +5 of 77. The promising rookie rebounded well in the second round with an even par, and closed with a state­ment, shooting a -1 of 71. Grayson performed particularly well on par-3 and par-5 holes over the course of the weekend. He was tied for the third best golfer on the shortest holes, shooting an even par over the three rounds. On the lon­gest of holes, he placed tied for fourth overall, shooting a -4.

Tyburski commented on the promising im­pact of Grayson’s performance saying, “Know­ing we have first-years on the team that have the talent and ability to contribute to our squad right away is huge for us. It not only gives the upperclassmen some support, but also gives the first-years confidence moving forward.”

Senior captain Ben Jessen and classmate Josh Spellman tied for second for the Raiders, and finished the tournament tied for 29th overall. The two produced nearly identical scores in each round en route to a final total of 227.

The Raiders were impressive as a unit statis­tically speaking, placing in the top-5 in several categories. The squad was the fourth-best over­all on par-4’s over the course of the weekend, averaging 4.27 strokes per hole. The team also paced fourth overall on par-5’s, averaging 4.83 strokes per hole, good enough for -10 on the weekend. Lastly, the Raiders tallied the second-most eagles out of any team, and were tied for fifth place for the most birdies accumulated during the tournament.

Colgate will return to the course in just one week, when they will travel to New Haven, Connecticut to compete for the Macdonald Cup at Yale University. Tyburski explained how the team will spend this week preparing for the tournament.

“We will focus on shot making and course management this week. Yale’s golf course requires a lot of position golf, where being in the correct spots both in the fairways and on the greens is a must,” Tyburski said. The first golfer will tee off in the afternoon on Friday, September 30.

Contact Matt Flannery at [email protected].