The St. John’s University men’s golf team on Monday and Tuesday participated in the 2014 Bill Callum Invitational where they placed 20th overall.
The 2014 Bill Cullum Invitational is held at Wood Ranch Golf Club, a 6,819-yard, par-72 course located in Simi Valley, California. The two-day tournament consists of 20 teams : Arizona State, Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, Fresno State, Hawai’I, Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, St. John’s, Sacramento State, San Diego, Santa Clara, Southern Utah, Utah State, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, USC, Washington State, Weber State and CSUN.
Leading the way for SJU on the first day of action was senior Ben Ludlam, who finished with four birdies to lead to a one-under on the front nine and finish with a two-under round of 70. Senior Dylan Crowley followed by landing four birdies as well as an eagle on the 521-yard par-5 18th to finish with an even-par 72 in round one. After finishing three-over in the first round, freshman Jacob Henny was able to card back-to-back birdies on seven and eight for a three-under front nine to sit at one-under par through his first 15 holes of round two before darkness settled in. Senior Obe Ayton also carded a pair of birdies in the opening round to finish three-over with a 75 while sophomore [A3] saw four birdies in the early morning round before finishing nine-over with an 81.
On the second and final day of action, California native senior Dylan Crowley led the way for the Red Storm in the final round, carding three birdies to end the day two strokes over par for a three-round total of 218 (+2) to tie for 31st overall. Senior Obe Ayton provided a pair of birdies on his final round to end the day with a 77 (+5) to tie for 70th with a 226 (+10) as Ben Ludlam tied for 85th after carding a three-day total of 230 (+14). Freshman Jacob Henny landed an eagle on the par 18th in his final round to conclude the two-day event tied for 94th with a 234 (+18) while sophomore John Russo carded a 79 (+7) in the third round to finish 102nd with a 238 (+22).
USC clinched the team championship after carding an event-record three-day total of 275-280-278–833 (-31) while Arizona State’s Jon Rahm secured the individual title by one stroke with an event-record 67-67-69—203 (-13).
The Red Storm will round out the fall season on Oct. 27-29 in Fort Myers, Florida, to compete in the 2014 Cobra Puma Invitational at the Old Corkscrew Country Club.
