April 6, 2007 - at Navy Spring Invitational - Day One
April 6, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Golf
Rider 20th at Navy Spring Invitational – Day One
LeFante 14th out of 130
ANNAPOLIS, Md.—Neither wind nor bitter cold shall keep a golfer from his appointed rounds. “The weather was horrible,” said head coach Bob Whartenby after the opening round of the 2007 Navy ‘Spring’ Invitational. “We had the first tee time of the day at 7:30am and it was 30 degrees with a 20 mile per hour wind so it was more like 10 out. It was just cold right off the jump.”
For the Broncs, sophomore Eric LeFante (Colts Neck) shot a 75 on the par-71 U.S. Naval Academy course and is tied for 14th out of 130 golfers. Kyle Morris from Seton Hall shot a two-under 69 and leads by three shots.
“Eric had a bad front nine and a bad 10th hole but came back with four birdies on the back nine and got into a little bit of a grove,” Whartenby said. “He really composed himself and grinded it out.”
“I knew that a lot of the players would be out of the tournament mentally based on the weather conditions,” said LeFante. “It was very cold but it is the same for everybody and you can’t change the weather so you have to try not to think about it.”
“The greens were hard and fast,” Whartenby added. “The conditions made it difficult to put up a good score and Eric overcame that.”
“Your hands are very cold especially trying to put,” LeFante added. “I just kept telling myself that the cold is not an excuse and that it is the same for everybody. On the holes I had birdies on I hit solid approach shots and got within a few feet, putting myself in a better position for a makeable put.”
Also for Rider, freshman Kevin Krecicki (Hamilton, N.J./Nottingham) shot an 81 and is tied for 80th, junior Tyler Brewington (Orangeville, Pa./Benton) had an 83 and is tied for 100th, senior Jeff Palmer (Bensalem) shot an 85 and is tied for 115th and freshman Brad Yocum (Brodheadville, Pa./Pleasant Valley) shot an 86 and is tied for 119th.
The 25-team tournament concludes on Saturday.
“To be successful on Saturday, we have to stop making mental mistakes,” said Whartenby. “We had some bad breaks with some tough lies today but if we fine tune everything, we’ll hopefully show that effort on the scorecard.”
“I am hoping I am going to hit a little better than I did today,” said LeFante. “I worked on the range after my round and I think I figured a few things out so I think tomorrow [Saturday] will be a different day and that I will hit it a lot better. I spent all day fighting back from a bad start to the round and I want to have a solid start tomorrow so I don’t have to continually fight back.”
As a team, Rider shot 324 and is tied for 20th with Colgate after the first day. St. Bonaventure shot a 300 and leads Longwood by one shot.
-RU-
Team Scoes
1 St. Bonaventure U. 300 +16, 2 Longwood University 301 +17, 3 Pennsylvania, U. of 303 +19,
4 Loyola College 304 +20, Seton Hall Univ. 304 +20, 6 Delaware, U. of 305 +21,
7 GW B 308 +24, 8 Bucknell University 309 +25, 9 Navy Gold 310 +26,
10 Drexel University 313 +29, Millersville U. 313 +29, 12 Binghamton Univ. 314 +30,
13 Johnson & Wales U-FL 315 +31, Villanova University 315 +31,15 Navy 316 +32,
George Washington 316 +32, 17 Temple University 317 +33, Iona College 317 +33,
19 Rollins College 318 +34, 20 Rider University 324 +40, Colgate University 324 +40,
22 Lehigh University 325 +41, Navy White 325 +41, 24 Lafayette College 327 +43,
Rutgers University 327 +43
