The Binghamton golf team completed its spring season on the last day of the Big Sky Championships this week, with playing wrapping up on Tuesday. Binghamton finished in last place as they were dealing with some obstacles from quarantine mandates and were without senior Nacho Glagovsky. However, senior Justin Lane put forth a strong performance, recording a top-10 finish and tying for eighth place overall out of 35 competing golfers.

“I don’t think we were able to perform at our best which is unfortunate,” said Binghamton head coach Bernie Herceg. “The trip last week got to us a little bit and we had to quarantine as well, due to the lack of practice we were able to have. We couldn’t leave on Friday like originally planned and we had to leave on Saturday at 1 a.m. then get practice on that next day. The trip caught up to us a little bit with the physical tiredness and mental strain which may have led to the less-than-ideal performance.”

Lane’s top-10 finish was a result of the strong performances in the last two days, ending the tournament with an important putt which secured his eighth-place finish on hole 18. This marks Lane’s second top-10 finish at the Big Sky Tournament in his Binghamton golf career.

“[Lane] played very solid and it’s a shame that the first round had such tough conditions with the wind, and if he had a better round that day he would have been right there at the top,” Herceg said. “But overall, it was a great comeback effort from him the next two days. He didn’t make as many putts as I think he could have made in round two to put him up even closer. On the last hole of the tournament, he made that clutch put to secure the top 10 finish.”

Highlighting Lane’s strong performance was the hole in one he shot on hole 17 on Monday, giving him a nice boost to his score.

“[Lane] had that hole-in-one on 17 which was definitely a highlight of my coaching career because I haven’t seen a hole-in-one in a competition like that from one of our players,” Herceg said. “It was very exciting to witness.”

Despite Lane’s performance, the Bearcats struggled to capitalize on their third-place finish after the first day of the tournament. Shooting 308/20-over par, BU sunk to sixth on the second day, followed by a drop to the bottom of the leaderboard on the final day of competition.

All seniors plan on returning for next season due to their extra year of eligibility, aside from Matt Catton, who will be graduating. Herceg said he is proud of his players for overcoming a lot of challenges this season along with always competing to the best of their abilities.

“Considering the pandemic and all of the issues that went on, I am very thankful our department and the University allowed us to compete this season,” Herceg said. “We definitely had some challenges throughout the season that we overcame, and I think we are going to come out of this stronger. There were some great highlights throughout the season, and it was great to see the players compete. If anything, it’s only going to help us in the future, and most of our team is returning for next season.”