Sawin wins Princeton Invitational

This weekend, the men's golf team hosted the Princeton Invitational at the Springdale Golf Club, a 6,390-yard par-71 course with three par-fives and four par-threes. The tournament, which this year involved 15 teams, has been scheduled every year since 1987.

The Tigers finished in second place at plus 19, just four strokes behind St. John's. Princeton also boasted the individual winner in senior captain John Sawin. The effort by the Tigers was a vast improvement over the recent Towson's Lacrosse Homes Collegiate Invitational. The talented Red Storm team also won that tournament, but the Tigers finished much farther back, in 10th place.

The Princeton Invitational was designed as a 54-hole tournament with two rounds Saturday followed by a final round Sunday. Unfortunately, downpours cut short Sunday's action. The final scores were based only on the two rounds played Saturday.

Princeton edged Columbia by a stroke. Following Columbia at plus 20 was St. Joe's at plus 26 and Towson, Penn and George Washington at plus 28.

Sawin, who is also a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian, won the individual battle by two shots over St. John's Keegan Bradley. Though Bradley had the low round for the tournament with a four-under 67, he shot a 73 in the second round to finish two-under par for the tournament. Sawin was under par in both rounds, shooting a three-under 68 followed by a 70 in the second half of the doubleheader to clinch the victory. Columbia's August Quartararo and Towson's Jeff Castle both recorded first-round 69s.

None of the Tigers players had a round over 80 in team play. Sophomore Max Schechter was impressive at plus five, tying for ninth place in the tournament. Senior Brent Herlihy finished at plus eight, freshman Juan Pablo Candela was plus 10 and freshman Jake Skinner rounded it out with a plus 15 tournament.

Three other Tigers also competed individually. Freshman Greg Stamas tied for ninth at plus five, sophomore Drew Maliniak finished at plus eight and freshman Tom Klingman was plus nine.

The Tigers enjoyed the advantage of playing on their home course, but that wasn't the only reason the team played well.

"Clearly playing the course and knowing what club you should hit for every shot is an advantage," Candela said. "But it's not a definite advantage if the other teams are preparing well in their practice round, simply because the other teams also were able to map the course. It is always important for teams to prepare well for a course, and this is what we will have to do next week [in the Ivy League Championship]."

Finishing in second should be a confidence booster going into next weekend, when teams from the Ivy League will compete for the league title, as Princeton topped both Penn and Columbia, two teams that it had lost to in previous tournaments. The Tigers hope to carry some of this momentum into next week in hopes of defending the Ivy League crown.

"I think we're playing much better. I think the team as a whole is really strong and should have a good chance to play well with the teams we're going to play next week," Candela said. "Even though we were not playing our best, we were better than [Columbia and Penn] this weekend. I think it is very encouraging for us that we can win the tournament next week, and hopefully by a big margin."