Late March meant it was time for the Binghamton University golf team to hit the links once again for its spring season. Of course, it also meant senior Jake Katz was ready to pick up right where he left off in the fall.
The Bearcats participated in the C&F Bank Intercollegiate on March 21-22, which was hosted by the College of William and Mary, and yesterday they finished up at the Wildcat Invitational, hosted by Villanova University. Binghamton took 11th place out of 24 teams at William and Mary before taking 15th place in the 20-team Wildcat Invitational.
Katz finished tied for fourth place at the Intercollegiate, finishing at 1-under-par. He shot a 69 in the opening round, but a 74 in the second round led to him falling two strokes short of a playoff. It was Katz’s 11th straight top-10 showing. Katz had a chance to work his way into the playoff in the final round, but he recorded a bogey on the 16th hole and recorded a par on each of the final two holes.
Sophomore David Cellura finished tied for 20th place with rounds of 74 and 73, good for 3-over-par. Freshman Bryce Edmister had a promising start with a 73 in the first round, but a final round of 79 put him at eight-over-par, which tied him for 56th place. The Bearcats had a two-day total of 598, good for a score of 22-over-par. James Madison won the team title with a 572, four-under-par score.
Katz’s string of top-10 finishes came to an end at the Wildcat Invitational. Katz shot a pair of 74s en route to a score of 6-over-par, which tied him for 11th place individually. He fell one stroke shy of tying for ninth place. Junior Mike Surdey, who was competing as an individual and did not represent Binghamton for team scoring, finished tied for 13th at 7-over-par with rounds of 72 and 77.
The Bearcats had a total of 316 in the opening round and 311 in the final round, giving them a score of 59-over-par. University of Delaware took first place with a score of 11-over-par.
Binghamton is set to compete this weekend at the Rutherford Intercollegiate at Penn State University starting at 8 a.m. on Friday and continuing through Sunday.