Youth gets served in final event

The men's golf team finished in eighth place this weekend at the Rutherford Intercollegiate hosted by Penn State, ending a spring season that saw the Tigers struggle more often than not.

Coming off a disappointing tie for sixth at the Ivy League Championship two weeks earlier, the Tigers finished ahead of just four schools in the Rutherford Intercollegiate's 12-team field.

The tournament host, Penn State, won the three-round event with a combined score of 894, 30 strokes over par. Princeton finished at 941 as a team, 47 shots off the lead and 77 strokes over par.

Penn State's Robert Rohanna was the tournament's top individual finisher at one over par, carding a final round 73 to win by two shots over Wright State's Brandon Knutson.

The Tigers' highest finisher was senior co-captain John Sawin, who is also a staff writer for The Daily Princetonian. In his final intercollegiate meet, Sawin turned in a ninth-place overall finish, ending the tournament at 10 over par with scores of 71, 74 and 81. The final round 81 was Sawin's highest score this season; however, the final day saw extremely high scores across the field.

"The course played really tough on the final day," Sawin said, "and I just wasn't able to find the same groove with my swing that I had on the previous day."

The final round scoring average among the entire field was 82, and of the Tigers, Sawin was the only player to beat the mean. The other Sunday scores for Princeton were 84, 85, 86 and 88.

After Sawin, the next highest finisher for Princeton was a tie at 33rd between sophomore Max Schechter and freshman Jake Skinner at 22 over par. Sophomore Drew Maliniak finished in a tie for 43rd at 25 over par, while freshman Juan Candela finished in 61st at 34 over par.

Head coach Will Green started a young lineup this weekend in order to prepare for next year's season, giving two freshmen and two sophomores another collegiate tournament under their belts.

"Every tournament that these young guys play makes them stronger players," Green said. "In the final tournament of the season, I wanted to give each of these young guys another chance to gain experience that will help us next year."

Now that the season has come to a close, the Tigers will take a little time off from the game before gearing up for a rigorous summer schedule of amateur events.

"There is a benefit to having a younger team," Green said. "All of these guys will be able to play and practice golf all summer. Players that are entering their senior year often have internships that keep them away from the course. Luckily, all our guys are going to play tournaments this summer, and I look forward to them coming back with a renewed vigor to attack the fall season."

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Sawin, meanwhile, completed a great collegiate career this weekend along with senior co-captain Brent Herlihy. He knows how important these next few months will be for the Tigers.

"The summer will be good for all of them." Sawin said. "Each of the guys are having trouble here or there with their games and getting back to their old practice habits and their home courses will be good. I always found that getting back to [my home city of] Philadelphia when I was struggling was the best thing for my game."

Sawin plans to play in some amateur events this June before starting a job in New York City in July.