Griffs struggle with low finish at Virtues Intercollegiate

By Cassandra Ercoli, Sports Reporter

In what was a quick turn-around for the Blue and Gold, who competed in the Little Three Championship just six days before, the Canisius golf team finished in a field-low 14th place at the Virtues Intercollegiate in Nashport, Ohio. 

Freshman Cole Thompson finished as the team’s highest golfer, placing 47th in the 85-player field. The Beamsville, ON. native carded four birdies and ten bogeys in the first two rounds en-route to back-to-back scores of 75 to sit in 44th after day one. Thompson shot a five-over third round (77), adding one more birdie to his score card, to fall three spots to 47th, securing the Griffs only top-50 finish. 

Junior Mikey Takacs, who tied a career-low single-round score of 67 to take second at the Little Three Championship just last weekend, struggled at this week’s course with a final score of +22. Takacs opened his tournament with three double bogeys for an opening round score of 81 (+9). The junior did improve as the tournament progressed, adding scores of +8 and +5 in the second and third rounds.

Sophomore Chase Burgess sank eight birdies for the Griffs despite an uncharacteristic +18 (90) on the second round. Takacs (238) and Burgess (247) finished five spots apart, placing 78th and 83rd respectively. 

In the team event, Notre Dame (B) claimed the top spot with a commanding combined score of -21, which was twelve strokes ahead of second-place Butler. Loyola-Chicago rounded out the podium with a final score of -3, which also marked the only other team to shoot under par.

Notre Dame’s Pavel Tsar took home the individual title with a score of -13, whose performance included back-to-back six-under par rounds. Fellow Fighting Irish teammate Mike Qiu tied for second with Butler’s Logan Sutto with scores of -9. Sutto climbed ten spots in the final round, who filled out his score card with six birdies and one eagle. 

The Griffs will be back on the course this weekend when they tee off for the Matthews Auto Collegiate in Apalachin, N.Y., hosted by Binghamton. 

Photo courtesy of Tom Wolf