By: Danny O’Malley

The Xavier men’s golf team played in the Rutherford invitational and finished in second place with a score of 895 (+43) this past weekend.

There were 14 teams and 71 players that participated in the invitational. The Musketeers lost by five strokes to Binghamton University. Sophomore Tanapol Vattanapisit medaled in the tournament and shot a 73 in the first two rounds and a 70 in the final round for a total score of 216 (+3).

However, Vanttanapisit didn’t win the medalist position easily. He had to battle through playoff holes before finishing in first place. Vanttanapisit placed the highest single round score out of any Musketeer with a score of 70. He tied for the second best individual single round score of the tournament.

Finishing second best for Xavier was sophomore Yuki Kato, who finished in 15th place after shooting a 75 in the first round, a 74 in the second and a 75 in the third, totaling up to a score of 224 (+11).

Close behind Kato was sophomore Korey Ward who finished tied for 17th place with a score of 225 (+12). He had a first round score of 78 followed by a 74 and a 73. Ward’s third round score of 73 strokes was the second-best score by any Musketeer in the invitational.

Senior Aaron Siekmann finished tied for 53rd place with a score of 235 (+22) but showed improvement over the course of the tournament. After putting up a score of 83 in the first round he was able to fight back and put up a score of 76 in both the second and final rounds.

Next, the men’s golf team will be getting ready for the Atlantic 10 Championship, the NCAA Regional and the NCAA Championship. The A-10 Championship begins on April 26th in Coral Springs, Fla. and takes place over the course of three days.