The St. Thomas Aquinas College men’s golf team earned a 2nd place finish this weekend at the AIC Yellow Jacket Invitational, falling to Bentley University by just 4 shots.

During the first round of play the Spartans posted the low team score with a 8 over par 296. The team was led by a pair of 73’s from freshman Jake Yarmolowitz and junior Travis Fay. Freshman. Each played extremely consistent rounds, carding 4 bogeys and 3 birdies. Freshman Joe Tammaro has his best collegiate round in his young career posting a 2 over par 74. Tammaro managed to make 3 birdies to offset his 5 bogeys. Rounding out the scoring were Tom Holmes and Shkelqim Kukaj who shot 76 and 77 respectively. The team’s first round performance was good enough for first place, but only 4 shots clear of Bentley and St. Rose.

In the final round of play the Spartans played another solid round of golf behind the stellar play of Travis Fay. Fay continued his sensational play with his first under par round of the season. Fay made the turn at 2 under par after making birdies on 8 and 9, but then had his only hiccup of the day with a double on his 16th hole. After making par on 17, Fay stuffed his 5 iron on the par 3 18th hole to 5 feet. Fay’s birdie was good for a 1-under par 71 and earned runner-up honors for the event. Newcomer Jake Yarmolowitz finished tied for 5th in the event after posting a round of 74. After making the turn at 1 over par, Yarmolowitz made bogeys on 10, 11 and 14 sending him to 4 over on his day. Yarmolowitz was able to play his final 3 holes at 2 under par to finish with the second lowest score on the team. Tom Holmes battled all day out on the course. After tweaking his back on the 4th oles, Holmes played the majority of his round with no club longer than a 4 iron. After going to 4 over par through 7, Holmes birdied 8, 9, 11 and 12 to get back to even par. Holmes was able to finish his round at 2 over par leaving him tied for 12th place. Shkelqim Kukaj and Joe Tammaro round out the team scoring with rounds of 78 and 82 respectfully. Kukaj finished T23 while Tammaro finished T25. The teams round two score of 297 was not good enough to outlast the champions from Bentley who managed to post a stellar round of 289.

The team has this upcoming weekend off, but is back in action over Columbus Day weekend at the Post Invitational.