ANNAPOLIS, Md. // With three players inside the top 10 of the individual standings, the Navy men's golf team (587, +27) stands third following 36 holes of play on the opening day of the 2021 Patriot League Championship played at the par-70 Naval Academy Golf Club on Saturday. The Mids fired off a 20-over par 300 in the first round and followed up with the low round of the day over the second 18 holes with a 7-over par 287.
Loyola shot a pair of 288s (+8) to finish the day atop the leader board with a 16-over par 576. Lafayette (292-293=585), meanwhile, trails the Greyhounds by 9 strokes in second with the Mids just 2 strokes behind the Leopards in third. Rounding out the field are Bucknell (300-311=611, +51) in fourth, followed by Army (310-302=612, +52), Lehigh (313-308=621, +61), Colgate (318-309=627, +67) and Holy Cross (323-313=636, +76).
All six Loyola players closed out the opening day among the top 20, including Brandon Berry who was the only player to finish Saturday's 36 holes under par (-1). Berry's teammate, Evan Brown, is tied with Lafayette's Brendan Cronin for second with a 3-over par 143. Cronin is one of three players for Lafayette that sit among the top five, as Kazuki Osawa (144, +4) is fourth and Ryan Tall (146, +6) is tied for fifth.
Making his Patriot League Championship debut,
Keegan Shreves (So / Potomac, Md.) put together rounds of 74 and 72 to finish the day tied for fifth with a 6-over par 146 to pace the Midshipmen.
Nicholas Klock (Jr / Moraga, Calif. / 75-72=147) and 2018 Patriot League Player of the Year
Charlie Musto (Sr / Sterling, Va. / 77-70=147) are just a stroke behind in seventh. Musto and Shreves closed out the first day with a tournament-best eight birdies, while Musto was -5 on the day on par-3s and -2 on par-5s.
Chad Deegan, who garnered Second-Team All-Patriot League recognition in 2019, is 4 strokes out of the top 10, covering the 36 holes with a 12-over par 152 (75-77). Deegan could not have started the day much better than making eagle on the first hole (10th hole).
David Miccoli (Jr / Ludlow, Mass. / 83-73) and
Ward Wilkinson (Sr / Ashland, Va. / 76-80) round out the Mids' six-man team with the tandem tied for 22nd with a 16-over par 156.
Sunday's final round is slated to begin at 8:00 am with live scoring available on Golfstat.com(.) The 2021 Patriot League Champion will receive an automatic bid to one of the six NCAA Regionals (The Sagamore Club in Noblesville, Ind.; Seminole Legacy Golf Club in Tallahassee, Fla.; Championship Course at UNM in Albuquerque, N.M.; Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.; Golf Club of Tennessee in Kingston Springs, Tenn.; and Tumble Creek Golf & Country Club in Cle Elum, Wash.), held May 17-19.
### Go Navy ###
