ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The forecasted rain showers held off long enough for the opening round of the annual Navy Spring Men's Golf Invitational to be completed Friday at the par-71 Naval Academy Golf Club. Three players from Navy are among the top 10, while Navy's Blue squad (+17, 301) is fifth and Navy's Gold squad (+23, 307) tied for ninth among the 15-team field.
"The fast greens and windy conditions made scoring tricky, as evidenced by no one in the field breaking par," said Navy head coach
Pat Owen. "We will look to tighten up our short games tomorrow and improve our score, as well as our position."
Saint Joseph's closed out the opening round atop the leader board with a 9-over par 293 after four of its five players finished the day with top 15 marks. Lafayette and Binghamton are four strokes behind in second, followed by Methodist College in fourth (+14, 298) and Navy Blue in fifth.
Binghamton's Ryan Rodriguez leads the individual standings after shooting par, while four players are tied for second with a 1-over par 72.
Griffin Peters (Sr / Fountain Hills, Ariz.) and
Charlie Musto (So / Sterling, Va.) led the way for Navy Blue with a 2-over par 73 and are tied for sixth.
Chad Deegan (Costa Mesa, Calif.) fell in just outside of the top 20 in 25th with a 5-over par 76, followed by
Matthew Starobin (Sr / Davidsonville, Md.) in 51st (+8, 79) and team captain
Paul Mauer (Sr / Eagleville, Pa.) in 77th (+13, 84).
Meanwhile, third-year standout
Thomas Garbee (Asheville, N.C.) paved the way for Navy Gold and was one of the four players tied for second overall with a 1-over par 72. Sophomores
Michael Brennan (Locust Valley, N.Y.) and
Ryan Hicks (St. Petersburg, Fla.) both shot a 77 (+6) to tie for 31st, followed by
Ward Wilkinson (So / Ashland, Va.) in 61st (+10, 81) and
Nicholas Klock (Fr / Moraga, Calif.) in 80th (+14, 85).
There were also three Mids who competed as individuals -
Connor Jaenke (Jr / Arnold, Md.) shot an 80 (+9),
Jake Miles (So / Fredericksburg, Va.) posted an 82 (+11) and
Ben Burton (Fr / Charleston, S.C.) turned in an 85 (+14).
Action resumes Saturday morning for the Midshipmen where Navy Gold will tee off at 10:00 am and Navy Blue at 10:50 am.
### Go Navy ###
