Day One Results

KENSINGTON, Conn. – Rhode Island freshman Tyler fired six birdies in the first round of his career to finish the day in a three-way tie atop the individual leaderboard of the Ryan T. Lee Memorial Collegiate Saturday. The performance helped the Rams reach the midway point of the tournament in a three-way tie for first place in the team standings as well.

All five Rhody golfers finished in the top half of the 16-team, 90-player field.

Bruneau was exceptional on the front nine, sinking three birdies and hitting par on the other six. The birdies came in a four-hole span from No. 5 through No. 8. He also had three birdies on the back nine, with back-to-back birds on No. 14 and No. 15. At the end of the day, Bruneau was tied with Sacred Heart's Pablo Lacayo and Monmouth's Patrick Scenna in first place.

Also making his Rhody debut was graduate student and Assumption transfer Sean Magarian. He joined Bruneau among the 16 players at even par or better. Magarian had two birdies on the day while shooting an even-par 71.

Junior Aidan O'Donovan provided one of the strongest finishes on the day, firing two-under over the final six holes to get himself to one-over 72 on the day. He is one stroke behind Magarian in a tie for 17th place.

Freshman Luke Stennett is in a tie for 25th place after finishing two over par. He started strong, holing three of his four birdies in the front nine. He is one stroke ahead of sophomore Tony Liu, who is in a tie for 38th place. Liu had four birdies on the day, but double bogeys on No. 5 and No. 18 impacted his finish.

Rhode Island will begin the final round at 11:40 a.m. Sunday. The Rams will be grouped with fellow field leaders Sacred Heart and Manhattan. All three schools hold a three-shot lead over fourth-place Army. Monmouth rounded out the top five in the team standings, finishing one shot behind Army at +4.


Rhode Island head coach Gregg Burke said...
"This is a very interesting week for URI Golf. A year ago I gave assistant coach Brandon Gillis the opportunity to find a tournament and do mostly everything a head coach would do all week. He decided on the qualifier, picked the teams, and has been the decision maker. I promised to prepare him to be a head coach some day and this is another stage of his development.
 
"We are clearly a very deep and talented team. Tyler was terrific today getting it to five red and he did not have a great ball-striking day to do it. Sean was the man we recruited - the steady player who will make a ton of pars and very few bogies.

"But the guy who breathed life into us on the back nine was Aidan. He has developed remarkably since last year as both a leader and a player who won't give in to bad holes. He made three straight bogies which has been a difficult road for him in the past, but he finished with birdies in two of the final four holes. He reminds me of Chris Francoeur more and more . Chris had a rough go as a freshman but once he accepted that he should do things differently, he was a star. I see the same future for Aidan.

"Luke was solid, but the pressure of playing at home with the largest gallery on the course had to be a distraction. I see him going red tomorrow. Tony had two devastating holes. That has to change.
 
"We are where we want to be - in the final group. Virtually all of the top half of the leaderboard has played in this tournament before. We had one pre-tournament round and today. We can be dangerous tomorrow if everyone does the right things."


Ryan T. Lee Memorial Collegiate
Team Standings (After Day One)
1. Sacred Heart – E
1. Rhode Island – E
1. Manhattan – E
4. Army – +3
5. Monmouth – +4
6. Fairfield – +6
6. Bryant – +6
8. LIU – +10
8. Siena – +10
10. Iona – +12
10. Merrimack – +12
12. Farleigh Dickinson  – +18
13. Fordham – +20
14. Brown – +21
15. Hofstra – +23
15. Wagner – +23