Gearing up for the Big East tournamnet, both the Georgetown men’s and women’s golf teams hit the links this weekend, competing in the Princeton Invitational and the Roar-ee Invitational, respectively. The men played their way to a 13th-place finish at Princeton’s tournament, held at the Springdale Golf Club in New Jersey. Just across the Hudson River, the lady Hoyas finished in fifth place at host Columbia’s home course, the Hampshire Country Club.

The Georgetown men struggled during Saturday’s first and second rounds, despite prime course conditions. The Hoyas played relatively well in the morning, with junior captain Tim Hager, who posted an impressive opening round of 1-under 70, leading the Hoyas in the first round. Hager was followed by juniors Garrett Logan, who carded a 2-over round of 73, and Patrick Sherry, with a 7-over 78. Sophomore Vincenzo Salina and senior David Praet rounded out the Georgetown team with a pair of 8-over 79s.

Saturday’s afternoon round proved more difficult for most of the Hoyas. Salina bounced back from his morning round with a 1-over 71, giving him a combined score of 150 for the day. Praet also improved on his morning round, carding a 5-over 76. The rest of the team, however, struggled during the second round.

The Hoyas’ combined team score of 603 for the day left them in last place in the 15-team field, 16 shots back from the pacesetter, University of Pennsylvania.

In Sunday’s third and final round, the Georgetown golfers ground their way out of last place to finish the tournament in 13th. Salina led the Hoyas with another round of even-par 71, putting him into a tie for 23rd place in the individual standings.

“On Sunday, the golf course played long due to windy and wet conditions,” men’s Head Coach Thomas Hunter said. “We competed well, but the damage was done, and it was difficult to catch teams in front of us.”

The Hoyas ended the tournament with a team score of 901, 18 strokes back from the tournament’s winner, Penn.

“We were very disappointed in our performance this past weekend at Princeton,” Hunter said . “Although we had a sprinkling of good scores, we could not put the good scores together in the same 18-hole increment.”

The men’s season-closer will be the Big East tournament, to be held next week. “We will need to regroup and be prepared to play the best golf of the season because that is what it will take to be competitive in the Big East Championship in Kentucky,” Hunter said.

Across the river at the Roar-ee Invitational, the lady Hoyas had to contend with rough conditions, cold weather and unfriendly greens. Junior Chelsea Curtis led Georgetown on day one with a pair of 10-over 81s, followed by fellow junior Carly Hunt with a first round of 89 and a comeback of 77 in the afternoon. Senior Kaitlyn Dwyer turned in rounds of 15-over 86 and 14-over 85, and freshman Christine Curley bounced back in the second round with a score of 13-over 84 after a difficult start to the day.

In Saturday’s third round, the lady Hoyas overcame the difficult course conditions to put together their best team score of the weekend and leave three golfers in the top 20 in the individual standings. Dwyer and Curtis led the way with matching 7-over 78s, giving Curtis a seventh-place finish in the individual standings and Dwyer a 17th place finish. Hunt posted an 11-over 82, putting her into 15th place.

The Hoyas’ final team score of 997 put them in fifth place in the team standings for the tournament.

Reflecting on the girls’ performances, Head Coach Patricia Post said, “I thought Chelsea played very steadily for the three rounds. Carly played really well in round two and Katie played very well in round three. Katie hasn’t been scoring so well this spring, so the 78 was much more like her.”

Georgetown concludes its season this weekend at the Big East tournament. “We have some really tough competition in the Big East Conference,” Post said. “We hope to put as much pressure on them as we can by opening with some good scores.”

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