Spartans Look for Continued Success at Rutgers
9/13/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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Spartanburg, S.C. - The USC Upstate men's golf team will make its return trip to the Rutgers Invitational this weekend, hoping to continue in a string of successful trips to New Jersey when it starts play Friday morning.
Upstate is making its fifth appearance in the last six years at the Rutgers Invitational. The Spartans have enjoyed tremendous success in the tournament, claiming two team championships, three individual titles and two second-place team finishes. The tournament was the first Upstate played on the Division I level in 2007 and behind the stellar play of individual champion Michael Lawrence, the Spartans shot 855 to win by 15 strokes. Last year. Adam Goins won the individual title in a playoff with teammate Tyler Comer as the two led Upstate to the team championship.
The Rutgers Invitational is played at the Rutgers University Golf Course. It plays at 6,337 yards and is a par-71 layout adjacent to campus and Rutgers' football stadium. Upstate is joined in the 15-team tournament by Adelphi, Daemen College, Fairfield, Fairleigh Dickinson, Lafayette, Manhattan, Monmouth, Rider, Rutgers, St. Francis, St. Peter's, St. Thomas Aquinas, Seton Hall and Wagner. The teams will play 36 holes on Friday and 18 on Saturday.
Upstate head coach Todd Lawton will send the lineup of Ryan Cornfield, Adam Goins, Brad Sill, Brian Horton and Matthew Hopper into action this week. Sill, Horton and Hopper are seniors on this year's squad and bring a wealth of experience to the lineup. Goins, as stated before, won the individual championship a year ago at Rutgers and has led the Spartans on the course in each of the last two seasons. Cornfield certainly had a solid collegiate debut earlier this week at the Invitational at the Ocean Course. After opening with an 83, he shot back-to-back rounds of 77 to finish as the low Spartan. The freshman from Dudley, England, has bolstered the lineup and provided depth to a veteran team.
