The Leopards tied for second place out of 12 teams at the Lehigh Invitational hosted by Lehigh University this past weekend.
At the par-72, 7,091-yard Saucon Valley Country Club, the Leopards shot a 21-over-par, 597 total, narrowly missing first-place University of Evansville by three strokes. Sophomore Travis Robertson led the charge for the Maroon and White, finishing seventh with a card of 148.
Despite the finish, Robertson said that he “didn’t have his best stuff.”
“I actually didn’t really hit it that well the first day and then struggled with my putting the second day,” Robertson said. “I definitely worked on the swing a little bit.”
Finishing just behind Robertson at t-8 was freshman Liam Brandt, who finished five-over-par. After a strong second round, Brandt shot up six spots to secure his top-10 finish.
Freshman Viktor Kofod-Olsen and junior Winston Kelenc-Blank both finished t-14 at seven-over-par. Kofod-Olsen got off to a slow start in his second round, but he propelled himself to a top-15 finish after birdying four times. Kelenc-Blank was tied for second place after a one-under-par first round, but fell out of contention for medaling after an eight-over-par second round.
Senior Harry Dessel completed the five-man squad for the Leopards, carding a 154 to finish t-28. With all golfers finishing in the top 30, the Leopards overcame the “difficult” greens at Saucon Valley.
“I had to make sure I was putting myself in the right position to have uphill putts and scoring opportunities with my putter,” Robertson said. “I definitely game planned out where I wanted to hit it on certain holes.”
Three Leopards also competed as individuals. Sophomore Reed Theiss rebounded from a 12-over-par round one to jump up 12 spots, finishing 49th.
“I actually put a different putter in the bag,” Theiss said. “I thought that I had nothing to lose playing as an individual.”
The tournament marked Theiss’ first action as an individual this season.
“It was nice to not have as much pressure on myself,” he said.
Junior Hudson Pace and senior Valdemar Kofod-Olsen finished 55th and 64th with cards of 165 and 174, respectively, to round out the Leopards’ performance.
The Leopards will wrap up their fall season at the Fripp Island Invitational hosted by the University of South Carolina Upstate from Saturday to Monday.
“I was still able to place well and compete highly, which gives me an opportunistic outlook at the rest of the season,” Robertson said.