Results Round-Up: Nov. 5, 2024

Daylight Savings is over, and we’ve embarked on the long nights where 8 pm feels like midnight and tee times at 11:00 am mean you might be chasing the sunset. College golf has basically finished up, and a smattering of mid-amateur events are happening in warmer climates.

This is probably the last bi-weekly Results Round-Up until we flip the calendar and college golf gets rolling again. I’ll track important results and continue to check to see if Michael Thorbjornsen is back and healthy. Alexa Pano is hustling for a spot in the LPGA’s Tour Championship, while Megan Khang is safely inside the top 60.

Over the winter, I’ll continue to write and Friday’s newsletter will always be waiting in your inbox.

Let’s get to the results from the last couple of weeks.

November 5 Round-up:

Jake Mvra wins Metropolitan: Fordham’s Jake Mvra (Shrewsbury, Mass.) capped off his fall season with a win at Montclair GC in New Jersey. It was a record-setting win, as he became the first Fordham men’s golfer to win three career events. He’s won all of them in the last two years. Mrva shot 70-72 (+2) to edge fellow Bay Stater Aidan O’Donovan (Somerville, Mass.) by a shot. O’Donovan shot an impressive 67 in the first round, but a second-round 76 gave Mrva a chance to slip past him. The URI The Rams dominated the team portion of the event with a 17-shot win. Results

UConn travels to Hawaii: In this week’s example of “College Golfers have it made…” the UConn Huskies played in the Ka'anapali Collegiate Invitational in Lahaina. I would be more jealous if it wasn’t 70 degrees in Boston this past week, but what an incredible trip! They finished 15th in a strong field that included two of the top five teams in the country - Oklahoma and Louisiana State. Oklahoma won. UConn shot the third-best team score of the day in the second round. Ray Dennehy (Princeton, Mass) shot the low single-round score for the Huskies (67) and finished in 49th place. Results

Four New England teams play in Ledgemont match play: Holy Cross, Bryant, URI, and Merrimack played in a match play event at Ledgemont CC in Seekonk, Mass. Eight players from each team compete head-to-head… Holy Cross beat Bryant 7-1 in the first match, and URI beat Merrimack 5.5-2.5. URI handled Holy Cross on 6.5-1.5. Four players went 2-0 for URI, including Aidan O’Donovan.

URI’s coach Gregg Burke is a Holy Cross graduate and reflected on the sad news from the day before about HC legend Ron Perry’s passing. “It was a particularly painful day for me personally. I love playing Holy Cross and most every player I have met in my 25 years there represents everything I feel about my alma mater. But today I walked with just the heaviest heart, as my great mentor and hero, longtime Holy Cross Athletic Director Ron Perry, passed away yesterday."

BC Women at Diamante: The Eagles finished second in the Diamante Intercollegiate at Hot Springs, Arkansas. They were three shots behind Florida Gulf Coast. Cynthia Zhang shot 68-67-68 for a runner-up finish. Results

Mackenzie Whitney wins Holy Cross Invitational: Not far from home, Whitney Whitney (Westminster, Mass.) won the inaugural HC Invitational with rounds of 73-75. Her performance helped her Siena squad win its first title since 2014. It was also Whitney’s first collegiate win and the first individual title for Siena since 2019. Merrimack College had a strong runner-up finish three shots behind Siena, and Holy Cross rounded up the top three, ten shots back of the winners. Results

Merrimack wins Battle at Bull’s Bridge: It was a dominant 28-shot win for the Warriors to wrap up their fall season. A small caveat, the event was a mix of teams from different divisions. The one-round event had four medalists. Merrimack’s Jillian Johnson (Hingham, Mass.) and Mya Murphy (Bourne, Mass.) were two of those medalists with a score of 78. Results

Stonehill competes in Georgia: It was a tough trip to Georgia for Stonehill, who finished 13th in the Mercer Invitational. There was plenty of experience to gain from playing against a strong field. Carol Piganto (Foxborough, Mass.) finished 48th, and Jaelyn DeBoise (Springfield, Mass.) finished 63rd.

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Nick Maccario plays well in East West Cup: Even through the East team lost a closely contested battle, Nick Maccario went 2-0-2 in his four matches at Maridoe Club outside Dallas. Recap.

Ryan Brown wins Cape Cod Amateur: Hyannisport Club hosts this event every year. It’s limited to full-time residents of Cape Cod and Hyannisport Club members (a way for folks on the wrong side of the bridge to tee it up…). Ryan Brown, who is a member at Cape Cod National, beat Sam Russell in the final. Brian Secia won his second Senior Division. Secia was also a two-time winner of the Championship Division and has won the Seagulls, an early spring event at Hyannisport Club, three times. I wrote a recap for AmateurGolf.com.

Peter Uihlein hunting for World Ranking points: The LIV golfer and former No. 1 amateur in the world was once golf royalty. His father, Wally Uihlein, was the CEO of Acushnet (Titleist, Footjoy, Scotty Cameron). With LIV events off the Official World Ranking radar, Uihlein needs to play in other events that will allow him to compete. He finished second on the Asian Tour’s International Series Thailand. He shot 64-62-67-67, but Lee Chieh-po fired a 62 on the final day to pass Uihlein, who made a bogey on the last hole to lose by a shot. Uihlein probably deserves a career deep dive in the depths of this winter. An interesting story.

Alexa Pano grinding in Asia: In an effort to earn a spot in the LPGA Tour Championship, Pano has played four straight weeks in Asia. She is currently 62nd in the CME point standings and the top 60 earn a spot in the CME Tour Championship. There are two events left - The LOTTE Championship (Hawaii) and The ANNIKA (Florida).

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