The men’s golf team is off to a rather successful start, finishing its past four tournaments in fourth, sixth, 15th and 12th places.  

The 2014 Wildcats are a young team, with four of the eight members of the roster freshmen. The newest members of the team include Andy Butler, Will Byrne, Zach Egermayer and Andrew MacMillan. 

The rest of the upperclassmen consist of one sophomore, Lucas Trim, one junior, Luke Waggoner and two seniors, Ted Brennan and Scott Miller. 

The first tournament of the year, the Turning Stone Intercollegiate, took place on Aug. 31 in Verona, N.Y. The Wildcats had an impressive start, finishing fourth out of the eleven teams that participated in the season opener.  

Villanova came out of the first day with a total score of 612, and Trim led the Wildcats by shooting two rounds of 77 and 74. Butler and Egermayer showed a strong start for the first match of their college career, shooting combined scores of 152 (+8) and 153 (+9) for 36 holes. 

On the final round of the tournament, Egermayer helped seal the win as the top scorer with an even par 72. Eight birdies and 33 pars over 54 holes led to Egermayer clenching a 4.12 average for the tournament. The final result of tying for fourth place was the Wildcats’ best finish in the past three years at the turning stone Intercollegiate.   

In their following tournament, the Navy Fall Intercollegiate in Annapolis, Md., many competitive teams participated such as Brown, Cornell, Delaware, Georgetown, Saint Joseph’s, Seton Hall, Towson (the prior defending champion) and two teams from Navy. 

After the first two rounds, Villanova stood in eighth place, shooting a combined score of 296 (+12). Sophomore Trim achieved a top score for the Wildcats of 72, leaving him tied for 13th in the 56-player field. Egermayer trailed in second, with junior Waggoner and freshman Butler right behind.  

The Wildcats were able to jump in the standings after the second day, finishing in sixth place over all. The freshmen on the team played a large contribution to the success, as did Trim and Waggoner.  Trim wound up placing ninth individually at the tournament, along with Butler in 21st and Egermayer and Wagoner tying for 25th.      

The next tournament the men’s golf team participated in was the Rutgers Invitational on Sept. 19 and 20 in Piscataway, N.J. Other big competitors included Rutgers, Fairfield, Wagner, Wofford and Hofstra.  

The Wildcats left the first day in 17th place, with a total score of 609 for two rounds.  The top three leaders for Villanova were Trim, Waggoner and Andy Butler. Trim continued to lead the team with a combined score of 147 (+1), with Waggoner (153) and Butler (154) trailing behind. 

In the second day of the tournament, Villanova was able to climb in the rankings, sailing past Rutgers, Manhattan College and Savannah State University. 

The Wildcats finished 15th overall with a total score of 906 for all three rounds. 

Trim, Waggoner and Butler remained the team leaders, with Waggoner achieving a top score of 71 for the day.

Next on the Wildcats’ schedule was the Patriot Intercollegiate in Lorton, Va. on Sept. 28 and 29. This tournament, hosted by George Mason University, included other top competitors such as Delaware, Drexel, Seton Hall and St. Joseph’s.  

After the first day of the intercollegiate, the Wildcats stood in 12th place, with Egermayer leading the way. Shooting a total of 142 for the day, Egermayer was tied individually for sixth place. 

The men’s golf team wound up finishing the tournament in 12th place, with a total of 984 (+42). 

Trim and Butler both had excellent rounds, leading the team and each shooting an even par of 71.  

Although the Wildcats have had a successful start, they still have two more tournaments ahead of them this fall. After taking this coming week off, the team will play its next tournament in Jonesborough, Tenn., Oct. 10-12.