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On Apr. 4, the Saint Leo Men’s Golf played their last tournament of the regular season. The event that took place in Pensacola, Fla. was the Lions’ last battle before heading to the Sunshine State Conference Championships (SSCC). While the team finished second, one of the Saint Leo golfers managed to become the second-best player individually.
The Argonaut Invite hosted by the University of West Florida did not start well for any of the teams. After finishing the first 16 holes of the Pensacola Country Club golf course, the game had to be suspended due to darkness.
The first problem occurred when the game had to be delayed due to inclement weather in the morning. Even though the players went back to the golf course at 2 pm, the first round of the game could not be finished due to darkness. The game was suspended at 8:15 pm and the players were asked to come back the next day at 11 am to finish the round.
As a result of the difficulties, the tournament was rescheduled, and the total number of holes was reduced from 54 to 36. The problems did not stop the Lions from placing in the first half of the pack with 587 points.
The Lions scored 294 points in their first round and 293 points in their second round, which allowed them to finish the tournament as sixth out of 14 teams with a score of 587 (+11).
The Lions’ best player was Senior, Ryan Gendron, who managed to become the second-best player of the tournament. Gendron scored a total of 137 (-7) points. Gendron shot a 69 during the first round where he completed 16 holes and 68 on the remaining 20 holes of the course.
Freshman, Simon Knutsson was the Lions’ second-best player. With 148 (+4), Knutsson was able to finish the game in 28th place. While in the first round the player shot 76 (+4), in the second round the Lions managed to shoot the even-par score of 72.
Junior Riley Goss, Senior Casey Bannon, Junior CJ Tyler, and Junior Colin Warren all finished outside of the top 30. Goss played individually, and his score did not count to the Lions’ final result. The players finished the tournament in 33rd, 42nd, 49th, and 63rd respectively.
West Florida dominated the competition by winning the tournament with 18 strokes ahead of Missouri- St. Louis. The team shot 558 and managed to win the tournament on their home course.
For the Lions, the Argonaut Invite was the last game of the regular season before they head to Sunshine State Conference Championships. The tournament will take place on Apr. 23 and will last until Apr. 25.
The event is hosted by Florida Tech University in Melbourne Fla. on Duran Golf Course where the Lions played in early Mar. while taking part in the Panther Invitational.
Finishing the success from last year might be challenging for the Lions as the team of 2015/2016 set the level of competition very high by finishing second in the championship tournament. During the championships that took place in Key Biscayne, Fla. the Lions, who at this point were ranked as the second-best team in the nation, missed the SSC title by 12 strokes. Lynn University won the tournament while Florida Southern was third with 11 strokes behind Saint Leo.
Gendron is the only player who was one of the top five Saint Leo players participating in the championships and who remained in the team for the current season. Similarly to the Argonaut Invite, in 2016, the player managed to finish the tournament as the second-best player.
Since Gendron is a senior, it is the player’s last chance to capture the SSC individual title. For more news about Saint Leo Golf and the championships tournament, stay tuned to the Lions’ Pride Newspaper.
