Men's golf team finishes sixth at USCAA National Championships

The ESF Mighty Oaks golf team finished sixth this past week in the 2017 USCAA Golf National Championships - the best finish the team has ever achieved.

The tournament in State College, Pennsylvania, Oct. 9 through 11 featured 20 teams. It was the largest field in the tournament's history. ESFs two-day total of 623 would have been good enough for second place in 2016.

Highlights for this year's national tournament include: 
- A first-day total of 308- the lowest one-day team total at the tournament
- Two Academic All-Americans - juniors Kory Whittum and Will Hoffman 
- First Team All-American - senior Sean Barron with a 146 total (lowest two-day total in school history - third place overall)

The Mighty Oaks ended the golf season with another second-place finish at the National Collegiate Club Golf Association (NCCGA) Northeast Regional at The Links at Greystone, a highly rated public course in the Rochester area.

The team took a one-stroke lead into day two, just edging out Niagara University. Windy weather the second day pushed the scores up a bit and the ESF squad missed the top spot by four shots and finished second. That put them in a tie for second in the NCCGA and just one spot short of an automatic invitation to the NCCGA National Finals in Las Vegas. The team could still receive an invitational birth into the national event, but will not know until the end of the month.

Leading the way for the Mighty Oaks was Barron with a 77 and 77 for a 154 two-day total. Barron was second overall, missing the top spot by just one stroke. Also making the top eight from ESF was Hoffman with a 78 and 80 for a total of 158, tied for sixth.