The No. 1 Emory men’s golf team finished second in the 28th Annual Gordin Classic in Ohio by reaching second place overall through two rounds of the 54-hole event on Oct. 1. The team stayed consistent in the final round on Oct. 2 to maintain their runner-up position.
The Eagles started the event on Oct. 1 by scoring a respectable 286 (two shots under par) over the first 18 holes. On the same day, the team followed the performance with an 18-hole round score of 291 to close out the day of action at a score of 577, which was good for one over par.
Freshman Logan Ryan led the way for the Eagles through the first two rounds on Monday. Ryan shot a three under score of 141 (70-71), tying him for fourth in the 70-player field. Right behind Ryan, junior Matt Organisak finished tied for 11th with a one under score of 143 (70-73), while junior Sam Galloway finished the second round tied for 20th with a two over par score of 146 (71-75).
“[Ryan and Organisak] played really well,” Head Coach John Sjoberg said. “[Ryan] shot six under par and [Organisak] was five under over 54 holes, that’s fantastic on a really good golf course.”
Through the first day, sophomore Eric Yiu (75-72-147) and senior Connor Yakubov (78-75-153) rounded out the Eagles. Yiu’s performance put him tied for 28th in the field, and Yakubov tied for 46th in the competition.
“Playing 36 holes is hard,” Sjoberg said. “Illinois Wesleyan separated themselves in the first three holes of the second round.”
The Eagles played the final round of the Gordin Classic on Oct. 2. The team put up their best round of the event with a score of 279 which placed them second overall behind Illinois Wesleyan. The Eagles finished 11 strokes ahead of No. 3 Guilford College (N.C.) with a score of eight under par.
The Eagles started the final round hot out of the gate thanks to Yakubov’s efforts.
“[Yabukov] just got off to just such a fast start,” Sjoberg said. “He was our first one out. The guys might have just felt that momentum coming out of the gate.”
Despite having the strongest showing of any team in the third round with a score of nine under par for the day, the deficit with Illinois Wesleyan proved too much to overcome thanks to the lead they had built over the first two rounds. However, there were still many important takeaways from the Eagles’ overall impressive second place showing at the event.
“Going to Pittsburgh next week [will be the] same setup [36 holes in one day] as this event,” Sjoberg said. “[We need to] give ourselves opportunities to shoot good scores and not [let] a bad shot affect us.”
The Eagles return to action on Oct. 8 at the Tartan Invitational at the Laurel Valley Golf Course in Pittsburgh.
