March 27, 2011

Complete Results

• 2011 Fireline Towson Invitational - Final Results

GRASONVILLE, Md. -- Anchored by Navy senior team captain Ben Hayes' (Carmichael, Calif.) three-round 1-over par 217, the Navy golf team finished 11th at the 2011 Fireline Towson Invitational held at Prospect Bay Country Club in Grasonville, Md. over the past two days. The Midshipmen fired off a 26-over par 314 in the final round to slide two positions in the final standings.

Kent State (296-285-298 -- 879) shot the low round on sunday, a 10-over par 298, to take the team title by 25 strokes over the host Towson Tigers who turned in a 54-hole score of 904 (+40). Rhode Island secured third place with a 48-over par 912 (307-298-307), while Georgetown (308-301-308 -- 917) and Seton Hall (308-299-310 -- 917) tied for fourth.

Following the opening round of play, the Mids were tied with Loyola for fourth, shooting a 16-over par 304. However, the Mids were one of the few teams whose scores dropped in the second round. In fact, Navy shot a 24-over par 312 in its final round of the day to drop back to ninth in the standings with a 40-over par 616 (304-312). The Mids' dropped two positions in the standings, as Columbia just edged Navy with a 65-over par 929.

"This was a good tournament for us to play in and gave some of our freshmen an opportunity to gain some experience," said Navy head coach Pat Owen. "Three of our five players had only competed in one previous collegiate tournament and I was pleased with how they progressed. We had a great week of training and playing over spring break and I'm excited for what the spring has in store for us."

Hayes (72-72-73) continued his stellar performance on Sunday where he shot a 1-over par 73 to tie with Towson's Nyasha Mauchaza for second in the individual standings. Winning the tournament, however, was Kent State's John Hahn who was the 2009 medalist at the Fireline Towson Invitational.

"Ben did a nice job of striking the ball, but struggled with his putting game down the stretch in trying to overcome the slighest of deficit," said Owen. "Overall he played a nice tournament!"

Rookie Drew Selby (Charlotte, N.C.) tied for 17th and while he didn't improve upon his standing in the final round, he did improve his score from rounds two to three. Selby, who opened with par, posted a 7-over par 79 in the second round. He closed out the tournament on Sunday morning with a 4-over par 76 to finish 11-over (227). This was Selby's first tournament appearance since placing 68th in the season-opening Navy Fall Classic last September.

Junior Peter Reilly (Merrimack, N.H.) fell from 33rd to 46th in the final standings following his 9-over par 81 in the final round (75-79-81 -- 235). Rounding out Navy's lineup were freshmen Chris House (Raleigh, N.C.) (85-82-87 --254) in 83rd and Sean Murphy (Hudson, Ohio) (91-84-84 -- 259) in 87th. Like Selby, House and Murphy are playing in just their second-collegiate tournaments, having also last played at the Navy Fall Classic.

The Midshipmen will be back in action in two weeks with split squads taking part in the Rutherford Intercollegiate at Penn State on April 8-10, as well as the Lafayette Spring Invitational April 9-10.

### Go Navy ###