Behind the efforts of sophomore Brandon Matthews and senior Matt Crescenzo, Temple started its season by finishing in a tie for fifth place at The Doc Gimmler tournament at Bethpage Country Club Red Course in Farmingdale, N.Y.
The two-day, fifteen-team tournament hosted by St. John’s University, began on Saturday with 36 holes of action and concluded on Sunday with 18 holes of play.
“We played OK,” Matthews said. “We shot 4-under today as a team and we ended up in fifth place.”
“We just got to keep working on everything,” Matthews added. “It’s not one single thing, we just have to keep getting better.”
Yale claimed the tournament victory with a 20-under par 820.
Temple finished 839 (1-under) and was three strokes behind the second-place school, Harvard. Yale sophomore Joe Willis finished with an 11-under 199, the lowest singles score of the competition.
Last season, in what was formerly called The McLaughlin tournament, Temple finished in 10th place.
This year, Matthews finished first on the team and tied for third overall of the 76 competitors, shooting a 5-under par 205. Matthews shot a 66 in the first round, carded a 69 in the second round and followed that with a 70 on Sunday.
“I had a chance, but I didn’t putt well today and I ended up finishing in third [place] individually,” Matthews said. “Not too disappointing, but I wish it could have been a little bit better.”
After shooting a 1-over 70 on Sunday, Crescenzo placed in a tie for 14th, shooting an even-par 210.
“I was hitting the ball pretty well,” Crescenzo said. “The first round, not too good on the front nine, the second round I probably hit around 16 [greens in regulation] and then the third round I hit around 14 [GIR]. I just couldn’t get the putter going all the way.”
“I just have to stay in it,” Crescenzo added. “Even though you have two bad holes you have a lot ahead of you, so you really can’t give up. You just have to stay with it.”
At 7-under for the tournament heading into Sunday, junior Mike Amole rebounded nicely and put the rest of the field on notice. Amole carded a career best 5-under 65. It was the lowest score amidst Sunday’s action and the second-best round of the tournament.
Also competing were senior Matthew Teesdale and junior Alec Kissell.
Coach Brian Quinn has stated previously that a sturdy backend to the lineup could vault Temple to new heights, and Matthews is confident that the Owls have some talent at the four and five positions.
“Evan Galbreath and Mike Amole,” Matthews said. “They are two very solid four and five guys. [Amole] is playing great, [Galbreath] is a very good player… he wasn’t eligible for this tournament because of NCAA clearing house reasons, but I’m excited for this next tournament to see what we can post and we’ll go from there.”
Chase Senior can be reached at chase.senior@temple.edu or on Twitter @Chase_Senior.
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