Rutgers
Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational
17-Under in Final Round Lifts Men’s Golf to 6th-Place Finish at Quail Valley
Oct 19 | Men's Golf
Politano Finishes 11th, Downes 18th Overall
VERO BEACH, Fla. – No. 43 Rutgers men's golf saved its best for last at the Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational. The Scarlet Knights fired a 17-under 271 in Monday's final round, the low team round of the tournament, and climbed from 11th to sixth in the 15-team field at Quail Valley Golf Club.
Rutgers finished at 6-under 858 (298-289-271). The Scarlet Knights came within two strokes of a top-three finish after trailing by 16 shots to start the day.
"The culture of this team is strong, and the boys just show up and want to keep competing," head coach Rob Shutte said. "When you look at playing 36 holes, a lot of teams get tired and gassed and maybe don't want to be there as much as we want to be there. Today the birdies were out there, and collectively, today showed the depth of our guys. We had a lot of guys able to shoot 3-to-6 under par. I'm proud of the guys for sure."
The Scarlet Knights combined for 27 birdies in the final round. Sophomore Lucas Politano led the way with seven of them, carding a 6-under 66, tied for the second-lowest round of the day. He moved up 24 spots to finish tied for 11th at 3-under 213 (75-72-66).
"All week I was hitting it really well, kind of the best I have so far this year, and I finally got the putter to cooperate with me a little bit," Politano said. "On my second hole, I hit a nice 6-iron to a front pin to about eight feet and made the putt for birdie. I really didn't make anything the first two rounds, so that one felt like a breath of fresh air going in. It got me some momentum to carry me through the rest of the round."
"Lucas' ball striking this week was so good," Shutte said. "It's good to see him get back to a top finish this week. Lucas is too talented to stay down, and you'll see him getting back up to where he belongs."
Sophomore Argyle Downes made six birdies on his way to a 4-under 68 and finished tied for 18th at 2-under 214 (75-71-68). Junior Bennett Espenshade also made six birdies, five on the back nine, where he shot 31. He closed with a 3-under 69 to tie for 22nd at 1-under 215 (74-72-69). TJ Thompson matched Downes with a final-round 68 and jumped 20 spots to finish tied for 26th at even-par 216 (74-74-68).
Competing as an individual, Carlo Melgrati eagled No. 10 on his way to a final-round 68 and finished at even-par 216 (71-77-68).
"One through eight, we have guys that have the ability to be really explosive and put up good rounds," Politano said. "We're competing hard for spots to travel, and that's a good problem to have. Top to bottom we're super deep, and everybody has the same common goal. I think the sky is the limit for us."
Minnesota won the team title at 17-under 847, five strokes ahead of No. 19 Kansas. Memphis' Yixiang Wang took medalist honors at 11-under 205.
Rutgers Results
T11. Lucas Politano – 75-72-66 – 213 (-3)
T18. Argyle Downes – 75-71-68 – 214 (-2)
T22. Bennett Espenshade – 74-72-69 – 215 (-1)
T26. TJ Thompson – 74-74-68 – 216 (E)
T76. Daniel Martinez-Regal – 79-74-73 – 226 (+10)
Ind. Carlo Melgrati – 71-77-68 – 216 (E)
Up Next
Rutgers closes the fall at the Steelwood Collegiate in Loxley, Ala., beginning Oct. 31.
"We're going to stay loose and have a lot of fun," Shutte said. "We'll get to compete on some really nice golf courses in our area, then go down there and finish it out. I'm very excited about where we're at. We just have to have the juice to finish it off."
