Golf finishes eight out of nine

By Paige McAtee

The Rider golf team competed this past Monday and Tuesday at the Mount St. Mary’s Spring Invitational. The Broncs competed hard against other quality teams such as Monmouth, Fordam, Robert Morris, Fairfield, Saint Peter’s, Wagner, Maryland Eastern Shore and the host team, Mount St. Mary’s. Against such tough competition, Rider was only able to finish eighth out of nine teams.
In the 54-hole tournament, the Broncs played at the Quail Valley Golf Course, which is a par 72 course. Rider shot 36 holes on Monday and then 18 holes on Tuesday.
“We could have done better this week,” said senior Brian Accorsini. “We have been struggling a little bit this spring but we are not going to give up.”
On Tuesday, the weather  was less than ideal. It rained on the Broncs the entire day, which made it difficult for them to play great golf.
Despite the poor golfing conditions, freshman James Buttermark posted scores of 77 and 83 on Monday, and then came back in the rain on Tuesday to post a score of 78. His total combined score was 238.

He tied for 26th place out of 56 competing golfers.
“Buttermark played really well,” Accorsini said.
Senior Jordan Wycoff tied for 28th place. He posted scores of 83 and 75 the first day and shot a final round of 81 for a combined score of 239.
Accorsini finished in 32nd place with a total combined score of 241. He shot 80 and 79 on Monday and posted a score of 82 on Tuesday.
Junior Chris Wolak and senior Brent Wolgast also played well throughout the tournament and finished 33rd and 54th, respectively.
The Broncs position dropped from last year at the  Spring Invitational when Rider placed fifth out of eight teams.
The Broncs are now focusing and getting ready to perform well at the MAAC tournament, which will take place next week from April 29 to May 1 in Orlando, Fla.
“We have a full week before the MAAC championship to practice and get our games in good shape so we are not worried,” Accorsini said.
Accorsini knows that the experience of the team can play into the Broncs favor.
“We have an older team with a lot of experience so we are looking forward to the event,” he said. “We are going to go down to Florida with an open mind and ready to play really well.”
Last year at the MAAC tournament, Rider finished 3rd out of 9 teams, and this year the Broncs are looking forward to proving themselves again to the other teams at MAACs.
“The rest of the MAAC schools do not think we are going to do well so that makes us underdogs next week,” Accorsini said. “We are going to go down there and hopefully surprise everyone by putting ourselves in contention.”