BERLIN, Conn. — With a birdie at the last, Columbia men's golf senior DJ Francey took home the individual title at this weekend's Ryan T. Lee Memorial Collegiate. Francey (-8) won the tournament by one stroke over LIU's Lewis Wright.
The 18-hole co-leader, Francey put together his second straight round of 4-under-par 67 to win his first collegiate tournament. The senior from Weston, Florida got off to a rocky start with a bogey at Shuttle Meadow Country Club's par-4 first; however, that would be his only bogey of the day. He got back to even with a birdie at the par-5 seventh and got under par for the first time with another birdie at the par-3 ninth.
Playing in the final group alongside Francey, Wright rattled off three straight birdies at 14, 15 and 16 to get to 6-under. Both players parred the 17th, giving Francey a one-shot lead heading to the last. Francey put himself in position and drained a 7-foot birdie putt to win it.
"I'm very happy for DJ and that putt on 18 was epic," head coach and Director of Golf at Columbia Rich Mueller said. "To do it in front of the team was nirvana.
"I'm proud of the team's performance too. We came up a little short but LIU played incredibly well."
Columbia shot an opening-round 7-under 277 and was one shot behind Fairfield heading into Sunday. However, neither of the teams would win the title. Instead, it was LIU, which fired off a 14-under-par 270 to win by four shots at 10 under. The Lions were a formidable second at 6-under for the tournament.
Senior
Nathan Han bounced back from a 3-over 74 on Saturday to card a 5-under 66 on Sunday. His round included six birdies, going out in 4-under 33 and coming home in 1-under 33. He tied for eighth in the 90-man field.
Darren Pang (+2) earned a top 25, while
Wyatt McGovern (+3) and
William Sung (+3) finished in the top 30.
The Lions take a week away from competition before hosting the Columbia Autumn Invitational Saturday, September 30, and Sunday, October 1. The tournament will be held at Lake Placid Club in Lake Placid, New York.
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