The University of Rhode Island men’s golf team was unable to hold onto its lead following the opening round, finishing fourth at The Rutherford Intercollegiate this weekend.

Coming off their fifth victory of the year at the Dragon Match Play Invitational on April 8, the Rams were riding high heading into the event at Pennsylvania State University on Saturday. They rode that momentum and got off to a torrid start in the first round, with the five players combining to shoot 10-under on the front nine.

“The first day, we went to the tee box full of confidence,” URI Head Coach Gregg Burke said. “We had just won, we prepared incredibly well the day before and we came out to a fast start.”

Leading the charge for URI was first-year Luke Stennett, who jumped out to a lead and didn’t look back on his way to his first individual win in his collegiate career. Stennett got off to a red-hot start on Saturday, where he made four birdies in his first five holes. After remaining bogey-free until the 10th hole, he ended up with a career-best score of five-under in the opening round.

“Luke now has nine top-10s [this season] in nine tournaments; he’s played almost 600 players and only 36 have beat him,” Burke said. “He’s the number one ranked freshman in the [Atlantic 10 Conference], and he’s a top-three freshman in URI history.”

Stennett wasn’t the only URI player to shoot a season-best score in round one. Fifth-year Sean Magarian shot his first round in the 60s all year with a score of two-under, which put him in a tie for second on the individual leaderboard. After making a bogey on the first hole, Magarian didn’t make another one from there while piecing together three birdies to find himself just three shots off the individual lead held by Stennett.

First-year Tyler Bruneau also got off to a rapid start in his opening round, making an eagle on the ninth hole to complete a front nine of three-under. However, four bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine plummeted him down the leaderboard to three-over.

Late struggles in the opening round proved to be a sign of things to come for the Rams, as they shot seven-over as a team in round two on Saturday and dropped to third place on the leaderboard. As opposed to the morning where they had two players shoot in red figures, the Rams didn’t have a single player shoot under par in the second round.

Entering Sunday five shots behind the University of Delaware, Rhode Island was unable to replicate the hot start from Saturday and quickly fell into an even deeper hole on the leaderboard. Ultimately, it ended up being a second consecutive round of seven-over for the Rams, as they finished in fourth place among the 12-team field with a total score of 11-over.

“When we came out [on Sunday], there was a very, very different feel on the tee than it was on the first day,” Burke said. “Whenever you start a tournament, everyone’s tied. Today, we were five or six shots back, so that puts on a different kind of pressure.”

Although the Rams were unable to get the team victory, Stennett still was looking to secure his first-ever individual win. After shooting even par across his first 17 holes, Stennett went to the final tee holding a one-shot lead. However, the 18th hole was playing as the toughest hole on the course, and Stennett made a bogey there in his first two rounds. Sunday was a different story, though, as he holed a downhill birdie putt to win by two shots, shooting six-under for the tournament.

“It was monstrous pressure, but the champion hit a ‘champion putt’ on 18,” Burke said. “I refuse to acknowledge that I think he won it on 18. I think he won it on the other 53 holes as well, but it was a big-time putt from a big-time player.”

This weekend marked the final tournament of the regular season for the Rams, finishing with five victories in nine events. After a stretch of two tournaments in the span of a week, URI plans to be meticulous about its preparation for the upcoming A-10 Tournament.

“We’ve played a lot of golf in the past eight days; there’s no question about that,” Burke said. “My two biggest things with preparation are instilling confidence and pacing ourselves with how much work we do so they are fresh [for the conference tournament].”

Rhode Island will head to Orlando, Florida for the A-10 Tournament on April 22-24 searching for its first conference title in over 20 years.

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