Following an impressive showing in opening Big East match play, the Connecticut Huskies will head down to Palm City, Florida for the Advance Golf Partners Collegiate at the Hammock Creek Country Club. The Huskies will be joined by Big East foes Creighton, Villanova, Butler and Depaul in a 21-team tournament spanning from Sunday to Tuesday. UConn will be guaranteed three head-to-head 18-hole matchups over the three-day tournament. Hammock Creek features wide and friendly fairways but the 7,131 yards will prove to be a stern test for the player in the field.
The Huskies placed fourth in this event last year, finishing behind George Mason, Creighton, and North Carolina Greensborough. Three of the Huskies’ top seven will be returning to the tournament from last year as they’ll look to once again lead Connecticut to a top-four finish. Junior Tommy Dallahan finished second on the team in last year’s event with a three-day score of 217, placing himself at No. 11 individually out of 121 golfers. Sophomore Trevor Lopez and junior Jimmy Paradise finished with scores of 229 and 231, putting them at No. 55 and No. 65 individually. These three will look to place even higher as they return to the event for a second year in a row.
Earlier this week, the Huskies opened spring play in a four-team Big East match where they swept the field with convincing head-to-head victories over Butler, DePaul and St. Johns. Star freshman Connor Goode and sophomore Eric Boulger led the way as they swept all three of their head-to-head matchups for the Huskies. An impressive start is just what the Huskies needed to climb the national rankings, as GolfStat.com currently has the Huskies slated at No. 164 out of 303 Division 1 men’s golf teams.
At the Advance Golf Partners Invitational, fourteenth-year head coach Dave Pezzino will bring Jared Nelson, who was the team’s leading scorer through the fall portion of the schedule. Also joining Nelson for the Huskies will be Dallahan, Paradise, Lopez, Boulger, Goode and freshman Colin Spencer.
The reigning Big East champs will look to keep it rolling down in Palm City, looking for their second top-four finish in as many years in the Advance Golf Partners Collegiate.
