Men's Golf Wins UConn Invite at GreatHorse

Sunday, September 29

Hampden, Mass./GreatHorse

Columbia

UConn Collegiate Invitational at GreatHorse

GreatHorse Alvin Kwak Individual Champion

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics

10/1/2019 8:15:00 PM | Men's Golf

BirdieFire.com Final Scoring Final Results at GreatHorse (PDF)Team Leaderboard Individual Leaderboard Team/Player Leaderboard

First-year Alvin Kwak comes from behind to claim individual title, first-year Nathan Han finishes second, sophomore Daniel Core takes seventh as Lions win back-to-back tournament titles for the first time in school history.

HAMPDEN, Mass.—For the first time in program history, the Columbia Men's Golf team claimed back-to-back tournament titles as the Lions won the University of Connecticut Invitational by 14 strokes Tuesday at GreatHorse. First-year Alvin Kwak came from behind to claim the individual title as he shot a career-low 68 on Tuesday and finished the three-day event at two-under-par 75-71-68-214.

Final results are available on BirdieFire at THIS LINK.

Two weeks ago, Columbia captured its first team title since fall 2015 when it won the Cornell Invitational in Ithaca.

Columbia, which entered Tuesday's final round with a four-stroke lead over second place Lafayette, widened the margin as the Lions used Kwak's 68, a 72 by senior Nick Brisebois, a 73 by first-year Nathan Han and a 74 by sophomore Daniel Core to register a team-low 287. The Lions completed the tournament at seven-over-par 292-292-287-871.

Three Lions placed among the field's top-10 individual golfers as Kwak (1^st place), Han (2^nd place) and Core (7^th place) led the Lions to victory.

Kwak began the final 18 holes in seventh place. He was right from the start as he registered birdies on four of the first holes including back-to-back birdies on holes 1 and 2 and 4 and 5. He finished off the back nine with birdies on holes 16 and 18 for his 68. His four-under-par 68 tied for the 10^th lowest round score and 10^th lowest versus par round in school history. On Monday, Kwak set the stage for the final round as he came on strong and shot up the leaderboard with a 71 using back-to-back birdies on holes 4 and 5 and holes 14 and 15. He totaled six birdies in the competition.

Han entered Tuesday in second place and remained there through the final 18 holes. He finished one stroke behind Kwak at one-under-par 71-71-73-215. In Sunday's first round he carded six birdies on holes 1, 4, 8, 10, 15 and 18 and followed that performance up with four birdies including three in a four-hole stretch on Monday. On Tuesday he played solid golf, carding two birdies.

Core finished the competition at four-over-par 71-75-74-220. He fired six birdies in Sunday's first round, including birdies in three of four holes (14, 15 and 17) on the back-nine and finished with two birdies apiece on both Monday and Tuesday.

Junior Arjun Puri and senior Nick Brisebois both finished in 28^th place. Puri carded a 12-over-par 75-77-76-228, while Brisebois came on strong on Tuesday with an 81-75-72-228. On Tuesday, Brisebois gave the Lions a boost as he charged up the leaderboard with his 72. His birdies on holes 14 and 17 secured the victory for the Lions.

Columbia was one of 14 teams competing in the event. Other schools include Army West Point, Bryant, Canisius, Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, Hartford, Lafayette, Lehigh, Rider, Sacred Heart, Siena, Saint Peter's, and Wagner. GreatHorse is a par-72, 18-hole course in Hampden, Mass., measuring 7,093 yards. The 54-hole, 11^th annual invitational was previously known as the Connecticut Cup until last year.