The Fordham men’s golf team completed its season this past weekend at the Atlantic 10 Championships at the Mission Inn Resort in sunny Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.
The grueling 54-hole tournament featured perfect conditions over three days, yet Fordham finished 12th out of the 12 teams in the field.
Winning the tournament for the fourth consecutive year was Charlotte at 11 strokes over runner-up Xavier, as Charlotte junior Corey Nagy won the individual title with a -1 212, four strokes up on teammate Stefan Wiedergruen who notched a +3 216.
In a result emblematic of the entire season, the Rams were 12th in the tournament from the first round through the third.
Also typical was the Fordham freshmen pacing the team with their play.
Freshman Devon O’Rourke led Fordham with a score of 240, scoring a 78 in round one, an 85 in round two and a 77 in the third and final round.
Following him were freshman Nik Andresen at 248 for 49th place, freshman Charles Smith at 254 for 55th place, senior Nico Mizono at 271 for 58th place and sophomore Zach Murray at 275 for 59th place.
“It is difficult to compete with great teams like Charlotte and Xavier,” O’Rourke said. “The weather was perfect but the golf course was extremely demanding, and if you were off your game you weren’t going to post a good score, my second round was a perfect example of that.”
The championships cap a tough season for the Rams, who struggled through a brutal schedule in an extremely competitive conference.
“[Mizono] was a great leader for everyone on our young team and was a great teacher in many ways,” O’Rourke said.
Looking ahead, Mizono is the lone senior on the squad; his presence as team captain will surely be missed.
“He was a great leader for everyone on our young team and was a great teacher in many ways,” O’Rourke said.
Though this season ended on somewhat of a sour note, there is hope for the future with this youthful team. With two each of sophomore and juniors, the Rams should continue to place higher each year.
“We are a very young team with three freshmen including myself so it is very important that we take a lot from this and improve in the future,” O’Rourke said.
The maturation of O’Rourke, Andresen, and Smith promises to bring lower scores and higher finishes to the Rams in years to come.
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