The St. Thomas Aquinas men's golf team had a fantastic finish in the third round of the Barry "Buccaneer Invitational," catapulting them from 11th to a 3rd place finish. The event consisted of some of the best teams in the country, including 5 top 20 Division II opponents, the 6th ranked NAIA and 3rd ranked NJCAA teams in the country.
The Spartans put together two nice rounds of golf on Monday, posting team scores of 292 and 288. The team was led by junior Brendan Hunter who played steady all day long with rounds of 69 and 70 leaving him at 3 under par for the event. Senior Chris Gentle bounced back nicely after his first round 76, carding a solid even par round of 71. Junior Kevin Gately played nicely as well carding rounds of 72 and 76 while sophomore Mike Miranda grinded out rounds of 75 and 73. Rounding out the team scoring was freshman Michael Frizalone who fought for rounds of 77 and 74. At 580, the Spartans sat in 11th place in the 16 team field.
During the final round of play, winds were swirling and pins were difficult, but that did not stop the boys from putting on a fine display of golf. Mike Frizalone got the team started with a solid round of 72. His 54 hole score of 223 (77-74-72) earned him a T-64 finish with fellow teammate Kevin Gately who posted a 75 in the final round (72-76-75). Senior Chris Gentle maintained his solid play for the event and carded a 69 leaving him with a 3-day score of 216 (76-71-69) and a T-28 finish. Junior Mike Miranda kept improving on his play throughout the event. His round of 67 today was low for the entire field and left him at 215 (75-73-67) for the tournament, good for a T-24 finish. Junior Brendan Hunter continued his stellar play for the spring and posted a third consecutive under par round, shooting 70 for a 54-hole score of 209. Hunter's 4-under par 209 was good for 2nd place among the 89 players. This spring Hunter has earned medalist honors once and finished 2nd in the team's two other events.
The Spartan's final round team score of 278 was low round of the day and good enough to move the team up to 3rd place. With the solid showing amongst a nationally ranked field, the team has now moved up to #21 in the country. They maintain their number 1 ranking in the East Region and maintain the lowest scoring average in team history at 293.