A strong showing by a pair of upper classmen over the weekend gave the UConn men's golf team something to build from as they move forward in their fall lineup of matches.
Senior Brian Travalja and junior L.J. Tosches became the first two Top 20 finishers under new head coach Dave Pezzino, as they each recorded a 3-over-par score of 213 to finish in a six-way tie for 14th on the individual scoreboard at The McLaughlin, an event held at Bethpage Red in Farmingdale, New York. The team placed tenth in a field of eighteen.
Tosches shot even-par 70 in two of the three rounds and Travalja added one of his own in the opening round. Both players attribute their steady play to avoiding mistakes throughout the weekend, with Tosches going the duration of the tournament without making more than bogey on a hole.
"Staying away from [double bogeys] was big for me," said Tosches of his performance. "Any time you can keep the big numbers off your card is a plus."
"I hit a lot of greens and fairways," said Travalja. "Keeping the ball in play was key."
These self-assessments by two of the elder Huskies fall directly in line with the philosophy of their coach, who remains upbeat about the play of his team despite a lack of quantifiable success up to this point in the season.
"They're thinking better out there, and they're staying out of trouble," said Pezzino. "We were disappointed when we found out we were tenth. We have the talent to be successful and we're starting to show it."
Pezzino is working on instilling "a culture of winning" upon his group, and the comments of Tosches and Travalja indicate a trickling down effect of the coach's penchant for finding positives in oft-overlooked aspects of the game. Senior A.J. Siekierski failed to qualify for the event but was able to play as an individual, and Pezzino was encouraged by areas of his play that again aren't very obvious to the casual observer.
"A.J. played the par-3's under-par for the tournament," said Pezzino.
The feat is what the coach points to as a "unique stat" that accounts for a weekend's worth of solid ball striking. While Siekierski's totals didn't count towards his team's final score of 32-over-par 872, he shot an impressive 2-under-par 68 in the second round on his way to a 44th place finish on his own.
Junior Tim Strout finished tied for 54th with a three-day total of 222, and freshmen Chris DeLucia and Mike Gunderson finished 69th and 78th, respectively with scores of 226 and 229.
The event was hosted by rival Big East program St. John's who narrowly missed out on the team title. West Florida slipped past St. John's by two strokes with a combined score of 830 behind red shirt freshman Kyle Scott's 10-under-par 200. Scott bested teammate Tobias Rosendahl by five strokes to earn individual medallist honors.
UConn rounds out its September schedule beginning today at The Adams Cup in Middletown, Rhode Island at the Newport National Golf Club.
"We know our best golf is ahead of us," said Pezzino. "It's all a learning process and we're moving in the right direction."
Chris Brodeur can be reached at
Christopher.Brodeur@UConn.edu.
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