University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Golf Wins Big 5 Invitational
10/16/2005 | Men's Golf
Oct. 16, 2005
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The University of Richmond men's golf team won its first tournament since 2003 with a victory at the Big 5 Invitational on Sunday at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.
The Spiders finished tied at 24-over par with Atlantic 10 rival George Washington, but Richmond earned the tournament title because its fifth score on Sunday, a 79 carded by freshman David Feeley (Phoenix, Md.), was four strokes better than George Washington's fifth player. This is just Richmond's third tournament victory since the spring of 2001.
"This is huge to get a win under our belts, especially in our district," Decker said. "We played very well considering the conditions, the wind was blowing probably a steady 30 miles per hour. I'm proud of the way the guys hung in there and stuck to their game plans. Under those conditions its easy to lose focus, but we finished up strong."
The Spiders entered the second and final round Sunday with a one shot lead. Under the extremely windy conditions, Richmond finished with a 16-over par 300, yet that was the second best round of the day. George Washington pulled together a 10-over 294, but no other school broke 300 in the 14-team event. Penn State, where Richmond head coach Adam Decker played his collegiate golf and then helped lead the Nittany Lions to the 2004 NCAA East Regional as an assistant, shot a 302 Sunday to finish three strokes back. The Spiders also finished ahead of Villanova and Penn, Princeton and Atlantic 10 foes Saint Joseph's, Temple and La Salle.
Richmond sophomore Jordan Utley (Richmond, Va.) continued his strong play, finishing in third place at 3-over 145 with rounds of 72 and 73 on the par-71, 6,843-yard course. This was Utley's second-straight finish in the top three, coming on the heels of placing second at the Macdonald Cup last weekend.
Senior Tyler Randol (Lawrence, N.Y.) finished the tournament at 4-over par 146 to tie for fourth, his second-straight top-five finish. Randol, who took eighth at the Macdonald Cup last week, opened the Big 5 Invitational a 1-under par 70 on Saturday and shot a 76 on Sunday.
Sophomore Billy Hanes (Elma, N.Y.), who was playing in his first event of the season, tied for 16th at 8-over par 150 (73-77). Freshman Tim Courtney (Midlothian, Va.) finished in a tie for 21st at 10-over 152 after shooting a 3-over 74 Sunday. Feeley, who tied for 38th at 12-over 156, carding a 77 Saturday and shooting a 79 Sunday that proved to give the Spiders' the Big 5 Invitational title.
After playing three tournaments in less than two weeks, Richmond will have a break before wrapping up the 2005 fall season at the Seascape Collegiate Invitational in Norfolk, Va.
