The Binghamton men’s golf team kicked off its 2024-2025 season with a ninth-place finish at the Alex Lagowitz Memorial, hosted by Colgate University. It ended the two-round weekend with a score of 594/18 over par.

“Overall, it was OK,” said Binghamton head coach Bernie Herceg. “We dug ourselves into a little bit of a hole in round one. We were a bit sloppy on some play and some shots.”

The Bearcats finished Saturday’s action in 12th place, shooting 303/15 over par. Three Bearcats, junior Sean Shen and seniors Ryan Millevoi and Tynan Jones found themselves tied for 36th place, each shooting 75/3 over par through the first round of competition. Shen and Jones picked up four birdies each, while Millevoi finished the day with three.

“[In] the first round, we had to come off the course for two hours because the course was unplayable due to a rainstorm,” Herceg said. “That kinda did affect them maybe a little bit … just kinda shaking off, not necessarily nerves, but some college tournament rust and things like that, compared to round two.”

Following the suspension of play on Saturday due to weather conditions, the third round of the tournament was cut, resulting in only two rounds and 36 total holes being played, instead of the planned 54. The Bearcats posted their best round of the event on Sunday, shooting 291/3 over par. Jones led the Bearcats, as his career-best tying round of 71/1 under par on Sunday helped him to a 19th-place finish, with an overall performance of 146/2 over par. This was Jones’ first top 20th finish since Binghamton hosted the 2023 Matthews Auto Collegiate Golf Invitational.

“It was a great round by [Jones] today,” said Herceg. “A very consistent weekend for him. He’s played very good, and it’s great to see.”

Shen and Millevoi moved up seven spots on the final day, shooting 73/2 over par on Sunday, each earning a 29th-place finish. Additionally, junior Brandon Conner and junior Harrison Blech moved up 17 and five spots respectively, with Conner finishing 61st on 153/9 over par, and Blech finishing 66th on 154/10 over par. Sophomore Jackson Vesper rounded things off, finishing in 89th place after shooting 160/16 over par.

“Everybody I think could have saved a couple of shots each,” Herceg said. “But they made a good comeback the next round, definitely tightened things up a little bit, [and were] a lot more consistent, so it was good to move up the leaderboard a little bit. ”

Binghamton finished their weekend with a score of 594/18 over par. After ending the first day of play in 12th place, the Bearcats moved up to a ninth-place finish, tying Canisius. Navy and Seton Hall were the joint winners of the tournament, scoring 573/3 under par over the two rounds of play.

“First off, they’re going to have a good field,” Herceg said. “we’ve never played the [Manor Country Club] golf course, it’s a good tournament for us to be competing in. So Sunday’s practice round down there is going to be very important to us, just to kind of be able to learn how to manage ourselves around the course correctly and things like that, so that’s what we’ll do.”

The Bearcats will continue their season at the Howard/USF Intercollegiate from Sunday, September 8 to Tuesday, Sept. 10. Tee times are to be determined at the Manor Country Club in Rockville, Maryland.