Senior Travis Fay captured his first collegiate victory while leading the St. Thomas Aquinas Men’s golf team to an impressive come from behind victory this weekend at the Franklin Pierce Division II Invitational.
In their first event of the fall, the team started off a bit sluggish, shooting a team score of 304 (+16). Leading the team was the senior Fay who carded his low collegiate round, shooting 69. Fay was steady all day, carding 5 birdies and only 2 bogeys on the day. Newcomer Sean Trapp played an excellent round of golf, posting a 75 for the Spartans in his first event. Senior Shkelqim Kukaj battled all day and carded a round of 78 while sophomores Joe Tammaro and Jake Yarmolowitz posted rounds of 82 and 83 respectively. The Spartans score of 304 left them in 3rd place and 9 shots behind last year’s # 1 and #2 ranked teams in the region, SNHU and FPU.
During the final round of play the Spartans came out firing. Travis Fay led the team once again firing a spectacular round of 69. Fay started his day with a chip in for eagle on the first hole and then a birdie on the 4th to get to 3 under of his day. After 3 consecutive bogeys on 5, 6 and 7, Fay righted the ship and played flawless golf to finish. Fay made par on holes 8-12 and then managed to make birdie on the 13, 15 and 16 holes to get it back to 3 under par. After missing the difficult par 3, 17th green, Fay showed his true grit getting up and down for a great par. On his final hole Fay found the fairway bunker and was blocked out by trees. After getting his approach to 30 yards off the green, Fay managed to hit his difficult chip to 10 feet and then drained the par putt to cap of his first victory. Fay’s score of 138 (69-69) was good for a 5 shot victory.
Sophomore Jake Yarmolowitz bounced back nicely to card an impressive round of 71. After getting off to a hot start making 2 birdies in his first 5 holes, Yarmolowitz made bogey on holes 6, 10 and 12 to go back to 1 over for his round. Yarmolowitz managed to finish strong though, making birdie on his final 2 holes of the day. Joe Tammaro also bounced back nicely and managed to fire a round of 72 along with Shkelqim Kukaj who also posted a round of 72. Senior Sean Trapp rounded out the team scoring with a solid round of 77.
The Spartans team score of 284 (-4) was the low round of the day and good enough to catapult the team over SNHU and FPU for a 3 shot victory. The team is back in action on September 22-24 at the SNHU Penmen Invitational at Canterbury Country Club in New Hampshire.