Balanced Spiders Finish Fourth at National Golf Invitational

Friday, May 17

Maricopa, AZ

10:00 AM

University of Richmond

National Golf Invitational

Quin Polin stares down his chip while holding his follow-through

Balanced Spiders Finish Fourth at National Golf Invitational

05/19/2024 | Men's Golf

Results

MARICOPA, Ariz. — All five members of the Spiders golf team finished at even par or better as Richmond placed fourth in the season-ending National Golf Invitational at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club. The Spiders combined for a team score of 2-under par (286) in the final round Sunday to finish the event at 15-under par, trailing only Butler (-18), TCU (-22), and champion Washington State (-41) on the 10-team leaderboard in the invite-only event.

"Overall, it was a nice showing for the team," said Spiders coach Adam Decker. "The guys were excited to get this invite for a postseason event. Working out the logistics was the hardest part, but other than that they were ready to play. Summer golf is starting and most guys had just played their first qualifiers of the season. So the golf stuff was the easy part. Getting everyone out here and acclimated to thedesert climate was the unknown."

Richmond shot under par in all three rounds at an event for the first time since the VCU Shootout in September 2022. The Spiders were led by Quin Polin, who finished his freshman season with a career-best 5-under 211, tied for ninth in the field.

"I was able to hit my driver really well to make the rest of the game easier when I was struggling with that," said Polin, who captured his second top-10 finish of the season. "It was exciting to hear we had one last ride with the boys for the year and we gave it our all to finish out the season."

Patrick Isztwan and teammate Drew Carlin were two of the four golfers to tie for 17th at 2-under par (214), the best finish for each player this season.

Cole Ekert made 37 pars, tied for the most of any golfer, on his way to a 1-under 215, which tied for 21st place. Jack LaPiana was one shot back at even par (216) in a tie for 23rd.

Richmond's fourth-place finish gave the Spiders a top-five result in each of their final four events: a fifth at the A-10 Championships on April 28, a third-place finish at the Wofford Intercollegiate on April 16, and a win at the Any Given Tuesday Invitational on April 2.