Nick Pandelena and Connor Greenleaf led a key weekend for the Boston College men’s golf team, as it started its fall campaign with a victory at the Central Connecticut State University Fall Invitational.
The team won the weekend by compiling a combined score of 562. The Eagles beat out Hofstra University by 22 strokes, in addition to Iona College, and Sacred Heart University. BC’s varsity B team finished the afternoon with a fifth-place finish with 591 strokes, missing out by one to the fourth-place Pioneers.
In the individual competition, Pandelena led the way for the Eagles along with teammate Greenleaf. The two shot a 138 at the two-day tournament, tying for the individual victory.
Despite bogeying the first hole of the tournament, Pandelena recovered with three birdies on the front nine, including ones on the par-5 fourth and eighth holes, which he also birdied in the second round.
Two birdies on the 11th and 13th holes on the back nine put the junior 2-under for the day, but he double bogeyed the par-4 14th and finished the day par for the course.
After learning from his mistakes on the first hole with a birdie on the second day of competition, he birdied three of the same holes he did on the previous day to finish 2-under for the tournament.
Greenleaf did the opposite of Pandelena, finishing the first day 2-under par. The freshman went on a tear through on the front nine, with four straight birdies. He bogeyed the seventh hole to end his impressive run, but made up for it by birdying the par-5 eighth.
Three bogeys outweighed his birdy on hole 14, though, and put him two strokes under par. Bereft of a hot streak on holes three through six, Greenleaf was consistent throughout the day, scoring even on 14 holes. A 141 turned in by freshman Patrick Hallisey, and 145 by senior John Jackopsic topped off the team’s weekend.
The team’s start to this season marks a far better start than its opener last season, in which the Eagles finished 10th out of 10 teams in the Collegiate Challenge Cup in Nashville. BC struggled to get victories over the course of their year-long season and finished in last place at the ACC Tournament.
Jackopsic was the bright spot for the team in latter part of the season. The senior was the Eagles’ top performer at the conference tournament, finishing in 21st place.
Featured Image by Jordan Pentaleri / Heights Graphic
