ST. ANNE, Ill. --- A 17-stroke improvement from Day 1 to Day 2 at the Olivet Nazarene University Bill Johnson Fall Invite enabled the University of St. Francis men's golf team to finish in the upper-half of the standings after tournament play concluded
Saturday afternoon at the Kankakee Elks Country Club. Head coach
Paul Downey's squad finished fifth overall among 11 teams after sitting in eighth place to close out play on Friday.
The Saints shot rounds of 319 and 302 to finish at 621. Roosevelt captured the tournament by firing a two-under-par 574 (284-290) over the two days.
Brandon Brodzinski led the St. Francis attack with consistent rounds of 76 and 75 for a seven-over-par 151. That also placed him in a three-way tie for 20th place among 76 golfers.
Producing one of the top turnarounds from the first day to the second was USF golfer
Luke Petrovic, who went from an 85 on Friday to a 73 on Saturday. His 12-stroke improvement from Day 1 to Day 2 was the third-best among all golfers in the tournament.
Another reason for USF's climb three spots up the standings was the play of
John Weis. After shooting an 82 on Friday, he rebounded for a 74 on Saturday to yield a 156, which was 12 strokes over par.
Other scorers for the Saints were
Brandyn Collins, who carded a 79 and an 82 (161 total) in his first tournament as a Saint, and
Nolan Weis, who recorded a 162 (82-80) over his two days of play.
Three golfers in all finished below par, the best being Roosevelt's
Alvaro Pardo Gutierrez with his rounds of 68 and 73 for a three-under-par 141.
The Saints head to Indiana
next Friday and Saturday (
Sept. 24-25) to compete in Bethel University's annual Battle at Blackthorn.
You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on Twitter @USFSaints.