UTICA, NY - Utica University's men's golf team competed in the Nazareth Fall Invitational over the past two days, finishing in a tie for second place among six participants. The Pioneers shot +16 as a team on day one, including a -2 individual round, and concluded day two with a +30 team score.
The event was split between two courses, with each day played at a separate location. Day one was hosted by the Ravenwood Golf Club in Victor, NY, followed by the Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsford, NY. At Ravenwood, players competed on a 6,642-yard, par 72 course. Locust Hill Country Club holds incredibly similar yardage, equaling a length of 6,635 yards and maintaining the same par-72 rating.
The Pioneers finished in a tie for second place in the team scoring of the event. Utica and SUNY Canton tied for the runner-up position with +46 totals. The orange and blue shot a second-best +16 round on day one, but struggled on day two with a fourth-best +30. Oswego State won the team scoring, shooting the team-best score both days with +12 and +25.
Utica had two top-eight finishers, including one in the top three.
Aydin Parekh (Nobleton, Ontario/Blyth Academy) led the way for the Pioneers, finishing third overall with a +7 score across both days. Parekh shot the best individual round of either day of the event with his -2 scorecard on day one. Freshman
Koltin Pickell (Ellenville, NY/Ellenvlle) placed eighth overall in the event with his +10 score across two rounds.
Adam Degregory (Saratoga Springs, NY/Schuylerville),
Louie Roman (Oswego, NY/Oswego), and
Nathan Macdonald (Canton, MA/Canton) each placed between 12th and 20th overall. Degregory shot +14 total with two +7 rounds, Roman shot +5 and +11 for +16 overall, and Macdonald turned in scorecards of +9 and +10 for his +19 total.
Utica had three rounds shot +5 or below. Parekh had the best individual round, shooting an event-best -2 on day one. This was Parekh's first time shooting under par while in competition for the Pioneers. His round saw four birdies and 12 pars. Parekh shot above par just twice and limited the damage to just one additional stroke both times. He shot either a par or a birdie on each of the first 14 holes.
Pickell's day two round was the second-best individual round of the event for the orange and blue. He shot three birdies in this round, starting his round with one on hole one, and then closing his late round with birdies on holes 16 and 17. In both days of the event, Pickell scored a double bogey only once, both on hole 10 of each course.
Roman shot the third-best round for the Pioneers, shooting +5 on day one. He scored two birdies and 10 pars in his round, which tied for ninth best of the day.
The team will compete again next weekend, when they compete in the Empire 8 Fall Invitational. The event will be hosted at the nearby Teugega Country Club in Rome, NY, on October 12th and 13th. Tee times are set to begin at 10:00 am.
