May 2, 2010
HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. - The Fordham men's golf team improved two more strokes on the third day and final day of the Atlantic 10 Championships hosted by the Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. Fordham finished eighth out of the 12 teams, with a +89 (317-313-311-929), 15 strokes behind seventh-place Rhode Island and six strokes in front of ninth-place Saint Joseph's. Charlotte won the title for the fifth-straight time, finishing with a score of 863, 11 over par (288-281-294).
Charlotte's Corey Nagy defended his individual title, finishing four-under with a score of 209 (67-71-71). Nagy was in first place all weekend. Nagy is just the fifth player in league history to win consecutive A-10 individual titles and first since Xavier's Steve Dixon (1998-99). It marked his fourth top-three finish at the Championship, while his final round of 71 was his 11th round of 71 or better in 12 overall rounds at the A-10 Championship. Charlotte has had the top two overall finishers in three of the last four years.
Richmond (+29) placed second overall - its highest finish in program annals - while Xavier (+40) came in third as it matched the 49ers for the lowest team score of the day. Dayton (+57) finished fourth, followed by George Washington (+65), St. Bonaventure (+75), Rhode Island and Fordham. Saint Joseph's (+95), Temple (+100), Duquesne (+129) and La Salle (+168) rounded out the bottom four.
For the Rams, rookie Brody Nieporte (Atlanta, Ga./St. Pius) was the high scorer. Nieporte finished tied for 12th overall after carding a 74 in the third and final round of the Championships. The rookie shot a combined score of 12-over, 225 (77-74-74) moving up three places from Saturday's 15th place finish. Nieporte started on Hole 10 on Sunday, and carded a birdie. For the round, Nieporte finished with four birdies, including first and ninth hole on the front nine. He tied with Paul Ferrier of Charlotte and Nathan Peck of St. Bonaventure. Nieporte had six birdies overall.
Nieporte's classmate Jason Del Rosso (Orlando, Fla./Bishop Moore) and sophomore Devon O'Rourke (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) tied for 39th overall with a score of 239 (+26). Del Rosso cut nine strokes from Saturday's round with a Sunday total of 77. Del Rosso (76-86-77) finished six-over with a birdie on the 11th hole. O'Rourke finished +10 for Sunday's round with a 81. The sophomore also carded one birdie on hole number 18.
Sophomore Brendan Green (Wilmette, Ill./Loyola Academy) cut three strokes from his second round score, shooting a 79 on the final day. Green (82-82-79) finished with a combined score of 243 (+30). Green tied for 45 in the championship. Senior David Newman (North Dighton, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional) finished up scoring for the Rams at 54th with a score of 252 (90-81-81).
Richmond's Daniel Walker (+2) finished third overall after posting a final round of 74 and was tabbed the program's first-ever Atlantic 10 Most Outstanding Rookie Performer. In addition, his third-place finish was the highest finish by an A-10 freshman at the Championship since Virginia Tech's Matt Hollerbach placed second overall in 2000.
Xavier junior Peter O'Neill fired the low round of the day with a one-under 70, followed by Nagy and Olafur Loftsson at even par. Dayton freshman Sam Keating and Robert Lindstrom of Richmond tied for fourth overall at the Championship at five-over, while George Washington senior Cole Turner (+7) placed sixth.
Joining Nagy on the 10-member All-Conference team are Loftsson and Andy Sajevic of Charlotte; Walker, Lindstrom and Sam Beach of Richmond; Temple's Andrew Mason; Alan Glynn of Xavier; Dayton's Sam Keating; and Nathan Peck of St. Bonaventure.
At the 2009 Championships, Fordham finished 12th.
