Men's Golf | 5/16/2023 10:38:00 PM
NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. With the first round of the NCAA DIII Men's Golf Championship in the books, the third-ranked Methodist men's golf team sits alone in fourth place out of 43 competing teams. The Monarchs combined for a round-one score of even par on Tuesday, placing them four strokes behind first-place St. John's University (Minnesota).
THE ESSENTIALS
Event: 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship
Location: Keene Trace Golf Club, NCAA DIII Keene Run (par 72, 6,701 yards); Nicholasville, Kentucky
Top-three teams: 1 – St. John's University (MN) (284, -4), 2 – Illinois Wesleyan University (285, -3), 3 – Christopher Newport University (286, -2)
Top-three individuals: T1 – Brian Hanson, Emory University (67, -5), T1 – Bobby Beaubien, Illinois Wesleyan University (67, -5), T3 – Four-way tie
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Teeing off on hole one, Cameron Cappuzzo collected early birdies on holes two, three and four. He took a two-under par score into the turn before shooting one stroke over par on the back nine, bringing his 18-hole total to one-under par with a team-high five birdies on the day. He's in a 10-way tie for 14th on the player leaderboard.
- Tied with Cappuzzo, Aiden Spampinato recorded four birdies on his way to a one-under par score on Tuesday, all of which came on Par 4s. He also posted three bogeys while scoring par on the remaining 11 holes.
- Cooper Hrabak carded the most consistent round of the Methodist golfers, recording pars on 16 holes. He bogeyed hole six but canceled that out with a birdie on the 13th hole. He's tied for 24th at even par.
- Freshman Jonny Lewis, the USA South Player of the Year, began the round on hole three, posting a bogey. He birdied the ninth and 11th holes to move to one-under par, then double bogeyed hole 12 to sink to one-over par. He went on to record three more bogeys with two birdies, including a birdie on his final hole to bring his round total to two-over par.
- David D'Agostino rounded out the Monarch golfers with a five-over par first-round score. He began the day with back-to-back birdies on holes three and four, then stumbled again with a double bogey on hole 6. He rebounded with birdies on holes 8 and 9 but recorded four bogeys with just one birdie on the back nine.
UP NEXT
The Monarchs will begin Round 2 with a 10 a.m. shotgun start on Wednesday, playing the NCAA DIII Champion Trace course (Par 72, 6,974 yards).
