The No. 2 Emory men’s golf team finished first at the 54-hole NCAA Fall Preview at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Ky., on Sept. 17 and 18. Meanwhile, the B Team struggled at the 36-hole Tri-Match at Barnsley Gardens Resort in Adairsville, Ga., on Sept. 24, placing last out of three teams.  

At the Fall Preview, the Eagles finished first out of 17 high-ranked teams with a final team score of 866. Junior Matt Organisak finished runner-up with a final score of 215, and sophomore Eric Yiu and senior Conner Yakubov both scored an even par of 216, tying for third place. Organisak, Yiu and Yakubov each earned a spot on the D-III Preview All-Tournament Team.

“To be able to play that well in the first event of the year is a nice way to start,” Head Coach John Sjoberg said of the Eagles’ performance.

A week later, the B Team finished with a final team score of 625 (311, 314), falling behind second-place Oglethorpe University (Ga.), who had a total score of 622 points, and first-place Berry College (Ga.) with 615 total points.

Senior Anthony Muscato led the Eagles with an individual score of 153 (74-79) and tied for third out of 19 players. Freshman Andrew DiPetrillo appeared next on the leaderboard, scoring a total of 156 (79-77), placing him in seventh.

Junior Leo Rich, who finished 171 (91-80), acknowledged the difficulty of the course.

“The course was very tough,” Rich said. “The greens were as fast as anything you’ll see in the state of Georgia.”  

Senior Stefano Butti, sophomore Davis Hingtgen and freshman Max Schwarz also competed in the match, finishing 79-79-158, 79-81-160 and 84-79-163, respectively.

“Even though we didn’t play as well as we would have liked, anytime our team is playing competitively, we’re learning and improving,” Rich said.

Sjoberg agreed, adding that the team has room to improve.

“The tri-match was a nice opportunity to get some guys a couple of rounds,” Sjoberg said. “There is plenty to work on, and several things were picked up during the two rounds. We played really well in short stretches. Now we need to bring that to a complete round.”

The Eagles return to action on Oct. 1 and 2 in Columbus, Ohio, when they compete in the 54-hole Gordin Classic at the Columbus Country Club.   

“The team is as good as I’ve ever seen of any team in Division III in my two-plus years here, and I’m really excited to see what’s in store for us as the year goes on”, Rich said.

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