On Sunday, Sep. 28, the Villanova men’s golf team traveled to Hampden, MA to participate in the UConn Invitational at GreatHorse Golf Course.
The Wildcats finished fifth overall in the Invitational, which concluded on Tuesday night.
“We feel like this team will be very competitive with those teams, which are some of the best in the Big East,” head coach James Wilkes said.
With 15 different schools from the region competing, Villanova held its own through the front nine. However, it wasn’t until the back nine that the Wildcats found their spark, which helped them tie for second overall with Fairfield after the first match of the Invitational.
The Wildcats shot 296 (+8) as a squad after an impressive all-around performance on Day One. UConn held the number one spot for the day after they went even.
Some of the top performers for Villanova included sophomore Vibhav Alokam, senior Matt Zerfass and freshman Luke Leonard. The three all finished the day shooting 73 (+1), which had each of them tied at the 14th overall spot on the leaderboard. Alokam, who birdied four times on the day, with three of them coming on the back nine, was what got Villanova flowing. Zerfass birdied three times on the day, while Leonard birdied twice.
“We knew when playing against him a bunch at St. Joe’s how good of a player Matt [Zerfass] was, and he came in last year and contributed a ton,” Wilkes said. “But this year, we had a feeling it was going to take the next step. We named him as one of the co-captains and he had a great summer playing in local events, and we just knew he was going to come in ready to go and he was. So he hasn’t missed a beat.”
On Day Two, the Wildcats improved their score from Day One to two by nine strokes, shooting 287 (-1). However, they moved back to the three spot in the invitational after Boston College finished at +5 on the day. UConn still held onto the number one spot by a lead of 12 strokes. Matt Zerfass was once again the leader of the day for Villanova, the senior shot a 70 (-2) coming off of four birdies and only shooting above par on two holes the whole day, to give him a total score through the first two days of 143 (-1). This score earned him the ninth overall spot on the leaderboard.
Heading into the final day of the Invitational, the Wildcats shot their second-best round in the entire tournament, shooting 290 (+9), which gave them the fourth-best score in the entire tournament out of 15 different schools. They finished in fifth overall on the leaderboard due to some ties from the schools ahead of them. The University of Connecticut took first, finishing at even, while Boston College, Rhode Island and St. John’s followed.
Early in the season, the Wildcats have competed in three Invitationals this year so far all coming with top-five finishes. The best performer from the final day of the tournament for Villanova was Zerfass. He built a sensational performance from the ground up over the three-day invitational. From Day One to Day Three of the tournament, Zerfass rose six spots total on the leaderboard, earning him a third-place individual finish in the tournament, his best placement as a Wildcat. Zerfass birdied holes six, eight, 10 and 14, and only shot over par on two holes.
Villanova will continue its fall schedule in a few weeks on Oct. 13-14 at the Echo Lake Country Club in Westfield, NJ, where it will take on a Big East foe, Georgetown, at the Georgetown Intercollegiate.
