The University of Connecticut men’s golf team opened their season in the Doc Gimmler Red & Black at The Bethpage State Park Red and Black Course in New York. The event ran Monday through Tuesday, and UConn finished 8th of the 12 collegiate teams at the event. The Huskies shot an accumulative 29 over par through three rounds.
The first two rounds on Monday were played on The Red Course. UConn got off to a hot start in round one, and the team combined to shoot two under, placing them atop the leaderboard.
Sophomore Alex Heard led the way, shooting a 67 (-3), which had him tied for third place overall. Three birdies on the back nine punctuated Heard’s opening round performance. Junior Connor Goode contributed to the Huskies first place performance, finishing at a 69 (-1).
St. John’s senior Peicheng Chen shot a 65 (-5) to claim first place in the player leaderboard.
In the second-round of the day, UConn’s momentum slowed as they finished one stroke over par, which bumped them down to fourth place overall.
Sophomore Bradley Sawka matched his teammate Heard’s score from round one, posting a 67 of his own (-3). Sawka is coming off an impressive freshman year, where he was positioned as the team’s number three golfer. He put together four birdies on the front nine and managed a fifth along with a pair of bogeys on the back nine. This bumped Sawka up to a tie for third overall in the tournament through the first two rounds, sharing the position with Heard, who came in for a 70 (E) in his second round. Goode shot a 72 (+2) in his second round.
The third and final round of the event took place on The Black Course. This iconic course has hosted three major championships, including the 2019 PGA Championship, where Brooks Koepka won the event for the second year in a row to earn his fourth major championship.
It all fell apart for Connecticut in the third round as the more challenging Black Course got the best of the Huskies. The team shot 30 strokes over par which was 10th place for the day, leading to their 8th place finish overall.
Ray Dennehy had the best third round performance for the Huskies, shooting a 74 (+4) to sit tied at fourth place in the round. This gave Dennehy a 24th overall finish in the event. Goode shot a 78 (+8) in his final round. Two birdies in his final five holes gave him a 20th place finish for the event, which was the highest for the Huskies. Sophomore Matthew Costello turned in a 78 (+8) scorecard in his final round as well, which landed him 35th overall for the event. After an impressive day one, Heard and Sawka both finished with 83’s (+13) on The Black Course. Their scores plummeted them to join Dennehy at 24th on the leaderboard for the event.
Chen finished at five strokes under par overall after shooting a 71 (+1) in his final round, giving him the individual victory for the event.
This was a disappointing finish for Connecticut after hovering around the top of the leaderboard for most of the tournament, only to fall in the final round.
The Huskies have the opportunity to bounce back in just a few short weeks on Sept. 29, when they host the UConn Invitational at GreatHorse in Hampden, Mass.