The Mercyhurst men’s golf team placed 10th at the St. James College Invitational on March 20-23. The team traveled to North Carolina for this invitational and finished with a team score of 955.

“Our team had a rough first two rounds but in the third round when the team shot a 304, they had one of the best rounds in the whole tournament. That was encouraging for everyone on the team” Sophomore Ryan Kaufmann said.

The golf team has a split season where they play in their conference during the fall and then play at various invitationals, chosen by the coach, in the spring. The Laker’s ended their fall season finishing fifth at the PSAC Championship.

“Right now we are having a pretty good season, in the fall we started slow but finished strong in the PSAC which set us up for a good spot in the spring. We are trying to stay where we are or move up so we qualify for regionals” Kaufmann said.

There are three stand-out players on the golf team who have been consistent all season and help carry the team. They also all did well at the St. James Invitational. These players are; senior and captain of the team Evan Watkins, senior Cory Vinborg, and freshman Chris Kupniewski.

Watkins led the team at the invite placing 11th individually. Vinborg placed 71st and Kupniewski placed 35th.

This was the team’s second invitational so far during their spring season. The first invitational they went to was in Avon Park, Florida for the Webber International Invitational against Lake Whales.

Coming back from the split season, the Laker’s are currently in 10th place for regionals and are working on moving up in rankings through doing well at their future invitationals.

“The golf standings are tough because not all teams play in the same tournaments. The team is really focusing on solidifying a spot for regionals” Kaufmann said.

The Lakers next match will be the Edwin Cottrell Invitational in West Chester, PA April 6 and 7th.