Men's golf finishes second in George Washington Invitational

This weekend, men's golf finished in second place at the George Washington Golf Invitational. The Tigers completed the tournament with a 23-over-par 599, just three shots behind the host Colonials.

Despite this solid finish, Princeton was disappointed with the result.

"We had our sights set on winning," senior Greg Johnson said. "We're trying to win all of our tournaments from now on, and we certainly expected to win."

The success the Tigers did have this weekend was due in large part to the impressive performances by the corps of underclassmen.

"We have a lot of great freshmen and sophomores," Johnson said. "We had three underclassmen in the top five, so that bodes well for the future."

Princeton's highest finisher, sophomore Jason Gerken, tied for fifth place, shooting a four-shot over par 71-77-148. Gerken's first-round 71 had him tied for third place, but his second-round score was not enough to keep him in the top pack and made him drop from contention for the victory. Most of the field suffered from a similar case of second-round malaise as the conditions on day two were slightly more difficult than on Saturday.

"We played in the morning [Sunday], and the pace of play was much faster," Johnson said. "They moved the tees back, so the holes played longer. Plus, in the second round there's just more pressure."

After Saturday's first round, the Princeton and George Washington teams were tied at 299, 11 over par. The Colonials were able to pull away in Sunday's final round, however, finishing the round in 297 shots, while Princeton lost ground, shooting 300 as a team.

"We didn't play that well," Johnson said. "We definitiely could have scored a lot better."

Temple gave both schools a run for their money with a 298 in the second round after shooting 306 in round one. The Owls came up just five shots shy of Princeton, claiming third place in the tournament at 28 over par. IUPUI (32-over-par) and Longwood (35-over-par) finished safely back in fourth and fifth places, respectively.

George Washington was strong at the top of its lineup, with three players finishing tied for fifth or better.

Lehigh's Nam-Kyu Park took the title, shooting a 67-71-138. Park shot six under par, claiming the distinction as the only person to break par. George Washington's Brian Carroll was the next best finisher, shooting 71-73-148, even par.

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Sophomore John Locke was Princeton's second highest finisher. He shot 75-74-149, five over par, tying for 11th place in the tournament.

"John Locke has really stepped up for us lately," Johnson said.

Just one shot behind Locke was freshman John Sawin, who shot 75 in both rounds. His six-over-par finish put him in a six-way tie for 14th place.

Johnson followed his underclassmen teammates, shooting 78-74-152, eight over par, and tying for 26th place.

The final Tiger golfer was sophomore Jesse Dixon. Dixon shot 79 in the first round and was one of the relatively small crowd that significantly improved in round two. His 75 score in that round gave him a total score of 154. His 10-over-par tied him for 32nd place.

Despite finishing lower than they had hoped, the Tigers had a succesful weekend that will give them a strong push into the meat of their spring season.