Freshman Gerken leads men's golf to third at Temple Owl Invite

The men's golf team finished a strong third in this weekend's Temple Owl Invitational at Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic, Pa. For a second week the Tigers were lead by standout freshman Jason Gerken with a 144.

Despite consistently striking the ball well and a string of birdies early in the tournament, sloppy short games hindered the Tigers from fully realizing the potential of this year's team.

By the ninth hole of the second round, the Tigers had climbed to the top of the leader board. Losing steam towards the end of play on both days, the Tigers missed a few key opportunities to win, giving up some key shots over the last four holes in both rounds.

"Consistency from start to finish is something we need to work on," Gerken said. "But a third place finish is still respectable, especially since we played badly."

In round one, the team fell behind eventual-champion Maryland by four shots on the last hole and in round two they lost seven shots on the last four hole. Making a string of key putts down the stretch, the Terrapins ultimately came out on top.

In this weekend's play, the spotlight was again on the golf team's newest powerhouse Gerken, who tied for the individual title at the end of the 36-hole tournament. A sudden-death playoff pitted Gerken against Andrew Gallo of George Washington and Nick Cook of Georgetown. Cook — whose five-foot par slid just left of the hole — was eliminated on the first hole leaving Gerken and Gallo to battle for the title.

The match was decided on the par four, 358-yard 18th hole amidst less than stellar play. Cook won the hole with a bogie five after Gerken left his approach shot in the water protecting the green. Cook received a fortuitous bounce off a footbridge after flying the green, finishing the playoff with a tap in bogey.

Gerken's tie for first comes on the heels of his fourth place finish last week at the McLaughlin tournament hosted by St. John's at Bethpage State Park on Long Island. Competition and success for the freshman is certainly nothing new. Gerken came to Princeton with 27 high school tournament wins and 36 junior tournament victories, including the 2001 Ohio Golf Association Junior Championship. In addition he had significant success at both the 2000 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship and the 2002 U.S. Amateur Championship.

"Many believe he could be one of the 10 or 15 best freshmen in the country," head coach Will Green said. "Thus far he is living up to that billing."

Senior captain Nat Hoopes agreed. "It's great to see a freshman playing at such a high level," Hoopes said. "He almost won the tournament. He lost in a playoff for medallist honors and he still wasn't satisfied with his play, which means he's only going to get better."

Junior Greg Johnson shot a 147 for the Tigers. Sophomore Creighton Page chipped in with a 148, senior Cassidy Traub was fourth for Princeton with a 148 and junior Chris Connolly contributed a 155.

Dissatisfaction seemed to permeate the Tigers as they missed a chance to win for the second week in a row. Princeton will have a chance to redeem itself next weekend at the Quaker Invitational, and the team is quietly confident that winning big tournaments is a realistic prospect for its main season in the spring.