Lions victorious at Penn National
Mont Alto, Pa. – Penn State Hazleton produced their first win of the 2021 golf season on Wednesday, capturing the Penn State Mont Alto Invitational on the Founders Course at Penn National Golf Club. Jeremy Harper (Mountain Top, Pa.) led the Lions with runner-up finish individually, posting one of only two rounds in the 70's. The other, a two over par round of 74 carded by Penn State York's Logan Snyder, was the top score of the day leading to Snyder's second straight individual win.
Harper started his day off his day off in solid fashion registering six straight pars and his only blemish on the front side came on the par five, seventh hole. Harper had just a seven iron into the green, but a miscue on the putting surface led to an uncharacteristic bogey. Harper would go on to finish out the front nine at plus one but continued to struggle on the par fives at Penn National. An errant tee shot at the par five, 10th hole led to a double bogey although the reigning PSUAC champion rebounded nicely to finish out the day. Aside from the par fives, Harper played the rest of the course at just one over par, leading to a score of 77 on the day.
It takes more than one score to get the job done and Hazleton's trusty roster came through to round out an excellent team score of 329 and three golfers finishing in the top five individually. Colin Hoy (Harlysville, Pa.) suffered four double bogies throughout the round but countered the miscues with birdies on holes two and 14, resulting in an 11 over par round of 83. Will Long faced similar difficulty with eight straight bogies midway through his round until the second-year player turned things around. Long went just two over par on his last seven holes on Wednesday to match Hoy at 11 over. Rounding out the Hazleton scoresheet on Wednesday was David Simons, sealing up the Hazleton team win with an 86 on the day. Simons had is fair share of bogies on the day, but successfully kept big numbers off the scorecard to finish at 14 over par and post Hazleton's fourth counting score.
Next up: Hazleton will square off with a pair of NCAA III schools when the Nittany Lions host the University of Scranton and Penn College at Valley Country Club in Conyngham, Pa. on Thursday, September 23.
Team Results from Penn National Golf Course
1. Hazleton: 329
2. York: 346
3. Brandywine: 368
T-4. Mont Alto: 375
T-4. DuBois: 375
6. Scranton: 413