The golf team opened up its 2010-11 campaign over the weekend at the Leo Keenan Invitational in Olean, N.Y., hosted by St. Bonaventure. The Red faltered on day one, collectively shooting a 306 to put the team in eighth place out of 12 teams, before regaining form and posting a 294 in round two to jump four spots in the standings and finish fourth. Senior Matt Jaye led the Red with an even par two-day total of 140 — good for second place overall. St. Bonaventure led the pack at the tournament both as a team and on an individual basis; the squad placed first overall with a team total of 581, in addition to Brian McKenna winning the individual title with a one under par 139.Senior Dan Bosse, who finished the weekend with a 152, acknowledged that there was some rust to shake off and nerves to overcome considering it was the Red’s first competitive tournament of the season. “For a lot of guys it was their first truly competitive round in awhile,” Bosse said. “Some of us were away from home working all summer and didn’t get the chance to play as much, so it takes a little bit of time to regain that edge. And then for a freshman like my brother [Zack Bosse], it was his first collegiate tournament so there’s got to be some nerves there. It was a matter of us just settling in and getting back into the swing of playing competitive golf.”The tournament was played at the Bartlett Country Club, which proved to be a relatively short course that was slightly different from years past. “[In the past] the course has been pretty difficult because it’s so firm, but this year it was a lot softer,” Jaye said. “I think the course managers recognized that so they made some pretty tricky pin locations, but all in all good shots were rewarded and there were a lot of birdies.”The Red was encouraged by its ability to shake off a rough first round and have a much stronger second round, but ultimately was unhappy with its performance as a whole on the weekend.“I think we’re kind of disappointed,” Bosse said. “We fully believed that we could go in there and win that tournament. We obviously shot ourselves out of it on the first day, but we did show some character by bouncing back on day two.”“We’re hoping to have our average round on the year be better than our second round over the weekend,” Jaye added.Looking ahead to homecoming weekend, the Red is preparing to host its annual tournament at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course. With the obvious advantage of playing on its home course, the Red is excited for the opportunity that it has to go out and show what it can do.“I think as individuals we all recognize the problems that we might have had [at St. Bonaventure],” Jaye said. “We’re each using this week of preparation as a chance to iron out any problems. It’s our home course which we obviously play all the time, so we’re looking forward to a good showing.”
Original Author: Ware Cady