MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Wesleyan men's golf team put together one of its best weekend in program history as the Cardinals finished in fifth place out of 20 teams at the Duke Nelson Invitational hosted by Middlebury at the Ralph Myhre Golf Course. This marks the best team finish for the Cardinals at the Duke Nelson Invitational, now in its 42
nd year of competition, as Wesleyan finished ahead of seven other NESCAC programs and just 11 strokes behind the event champion and host Middlebury.
The Cardinals sent shockwaves around the field with an opening round 296 (+12), an 18-hole total that led the field after play on Saturday.
Michael Jones '30 debuted with a 72 (+1) while
Johnathan Harlukowicz '27 was right behind with a 73 (+2),
Gavin Sendar '28 posted a 75 (+4), and
Peier Li '30 shot a 76 (+5) to put the Cardinals atop the leaderboard in a field that included all 10 NESCAC programs.
Wesleyan followed that up with a 309 (+25) on Sunday to finish with a two-day stroke total of 605 (+37) which was good enough for fifth place out of the 20-team field. This not only marked Wesleyan's first Top 5 finish at the Duke Nelson Invitational but also the team's first-ever Top 10 finish as the previous team-best finish at the event came back in 2001 with a 14
th place showing.
Harlukowicz finished in a tie for fourth place on the player leaderboard, following his opening round 73 with a second round 75 (+4) to finish with a 148 (+6) in the 36-hole tournament. He totaled a staggering 27 pars throughout the event with 14 coming on Saturday and 13 on Sunday while he added one birdie in each round and one hole with a score worse than bogey for the weekend.
Jones burst onto the scene with his opening round 72 (+1) and followed with a 77 (+6) to finish at 149 (+7) overall which was good enough for a tie for eighth place in his first collegiate appearance. Jones tied for the team-lead with four birdies over the 36 holes to go along with 22 pars.
Sendar was solid throughout, shooting 75-79-154 (+12) to earn him a tie for 27
th place overall. He posted two birdies on Saturday and one more on Sunday to go along with 20 pars.
Peier Li '30 impressed in his collegiate debut, finishing 76-79-155 (+13) to land in a tie for 36
th place. Li had two of his three birdies on Sunday while adding 21 pars. Rounding out the field for Wesleyan was
Paul Wilpon '30 who tied with Jones for the team-lead, finishing with four birdies on the weekend, while shooting 81-78-159 (+17).
Wesleyan's 16 birdies was the fifth-most of any team in the field while the Cardinals totaled 105 pars to finish tied for the third-most of any team in that category. The Cardinals also posted the third-fewest bogies (49) and tied for the third-fewest double bogies or worse (10).
The Cardinals are back in action next weekend with the Williams Invite from September 19-20 at the Taconic Golf Club.
