Men's golf rides record-setting final round to third-place finish

After two rounds, there was no reason for great optimism for the men's golf team. After scores of 304 and 303 in the first two rounds of the Rutherford Invitational, Princeton stood 28 strokes behind leader and host Penn State.

Then the Tigers came alive.

Led by sophomore Cassidy Traub's final-round 66, Princeton fired off a team-record score of 281 to charge up the leaderboard and finish alone in third place behind the Nittany Lions and James Madison. The 66 was a tournament record for the 25-year-old invitational.

"Cass's 66 was sweet," junior captain James Milam said. "We always knew he had the potential to do that, it was just good to see him do it in a tournament."

Traub was not the only Princeton player to shine on Sunday, as freshman Greg Johnson carded a 70, sophomore Nat Hoopes fired a 71 and senior Peter McWhorter shot 74. Even Milam, the Tiger with the highest score in the final round, shot a respectable 77.

Traub's three-round total of 214 put him in second place individually for the tournament. He finished two strokes behind Penn State's Andy Latowski.

Despite Milam's score of 77 on Sunday, he was the Tigers' top player the first two rounds — shooting a 72 and a 73 in tough, windy conditions of the first day. His final total of 222 tied him for 20th place, 10 strokes behind the winner.

Hoopes and Johnson shot lackluster Saturday scores of 157 and 159, respectively, before exploding for the spectacular scores on Sunday. Hoopes finished in a tie for 28th while Johnson was one stroke back in a tie for 41st.

"I'm not really sure why we played badly on Saturday," Milam said. "I really expected us to do better, but that last round was impressive."

Leaps and bounds

Princeton's three-round score of 888 was 13 strokes better than what they shot a week earlier at the Ivy League Championships, when the Tigers took home the championship over Penn.

Princeton will have to keep up the momentum from the top round in school history heading into NCAA Regionals against some of the toughest competition in the country. The Tigers will find out their Regional location next Tuesday.

Women's golf to head to NCAA Central Regional

The women's golf team will be playing in the NCAA Central Regional May 10-12 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. The Tigers earned their berth after winning the Ivy League Championship last week. It was the first time that the Ivy women's champion has automatically received a bid to NCAAs.