Mens Golf At Canadian Collegiate Invitational - Final Results

A little confusion here.

Clippd, the NCAA Golf scoring site has the 54 Hole tourney Sat-Tue, PSU has it Sun-Mon, Rutgers, Mizzou, Kent State, and Miss St have it Sun - Tue, and Golf Canada has Sun-Mon so I guess we'll find out.

Rutgers will compete in the 3rd annual event at the Oviinbyrd GC in Ontario hosted by Golf Canada. The Knights had played in both previous events, finishing 4th last year when then Frosh Lucas Politano finished 2nd after setting or tying course and team records with a 3rd round 9 Under Par 63 and a 3 Round total of 18 Under Par.

Notre Dame has won both of the previous Canadian Collegiate titles. Penn State, Missouri, Kent State, and UNCW will also be in the field for the 3rd time as will the Canadian college champion, University of British Columbia.

The Top 5 teams based on '25-'26 rankings are #26 New Mexico, #32 Notre Dame, #37 Mississippi State, #43 UNCW, and #81 Rutgers.

Finishing out the 13 team field are Santa Clara, Cal Poly, Abilene Christian, and Northern Illinois.

Rutgers has not yet posted their lineup.

The Knights, paired with Mississippi State and UNC-Wlimington, will send out this lineup Sunday - Tuesday.

Sr TJ Thompson
Jr Bennett Espenshade
Jr Argyle Downes
So Lucas Politano
Fr Carlo Melgrati

Rutgers Junior Bennett Espenshade leads the field after shooting a 6 Birdie, 2 Bogey, 4 Under Par 67 in today's first Round.

Rutgers stands 4th at 5 Over Par. Jr Argyle Downes shot a 1 Over 72 including an Eagle 3 on the Par 5 18th. Fr Carlo Melgrati joined the Eagle club, also on the 18th. He shot 74. Grad TJ Thompson shot 76 and SO Lucas Politano 78.

Playing as an individual, Soph Daniel Martinez Regal shot a 2 Under 69.

As mentioned Espenshade leads the field by 1 stroke over 4 players, 3 from New Mexico and 1 from Miss St.

Top 5 with '25-'26 Rankings

1. #26 New Mexico.......-8
2. #37 Miss St..................-2
3. #32 Notre Dame.........E
4. #81 Rutgers.................+5
5. #91 Santa Clara..........+6

Penn State is 8th at +13.

In tomorrow;s 2nd Round, Rutgers will be playing along side the top 3, New Mexico, Miss St, and Notre Dame.

Round 2 started off well for the Knights as the team was 5 Under after 5 holes. Unfortunately there were 13 holes left and the team finished 10 over, dropping 2 spots to 6th.

Bennett Espenshade was the bright spot shooting Under Par again with a 2 Under, 69. At 6 Under, he stands 3rd, 1 stroke behind the co-leaders, New Mexico teammates Johnnie Clark and Wyatt Province.

For Rutgers TJ Thompson shot 74, Carlo Melgrati 75, Argyle Downes and Lucas Politano 76. Playing as an independent, Daniel Martinez Regal shot 78. Not a good day all around.

Leaderboard

1, New Mexico......-15
. Notre Dame.........-9
3. Mississippi St......E
4. Santa Clara.........+2
5. Missouri...............+10
6. Rutgers................+15

At +29, Penn St is 12th.

In tomorrow's Final Round, Rutgers will be paired with players from Missouri, Abilene Christian, and UNCW

In today's final round the Knights once again shot 10 Over Par. Unlike yesterday, this time 10 Over tied for the 2nd best out of the 13 teams. In doing so they were able to make up the 5 stroke deficit they faced with Missouri, tying them for 5th Place.

Bennett Espenshade shot 75, finishing 6th. He now has a very nice string of 3 Top 10's going back to last season's B1G Championship. Frosh Carlo Melgrati led the team with an Even Par 71 and finished T16. He was followed by Lucas Politano's 73. Bennett Espenshade and TJ Thompson shot 75 and Argyle Downes a 76 as did Daniel Martinez Regal playing as an independent.

New Mexico's Johnnie Clark (-6) was the Individual Champion with Santa Clara's Emil Nielsen 1 stroke back.

Top 5 teams

1. New Mexico........... -5
2. Notre Dame............+5
3. Santa Clara..............+12
4. Mississippi State...+19
T5. RUTGERS...............+25
T5. Missouri

Penn State finished 8th at +41.

Some stats

RU was 9th in Par 3 scoring (3.22), 3rd in Par 4 (4.22), and 4th in Par 5 (4.64). They were tied for 2nd in most Eagles with 3, but also tied for 2nd in most Double Bogeys+ with 11.

The team will next tee it up at the 2nd Swing Gopher Invitational out in Independence, Minn Sun-Mon. Along with RU are B1G foes Minnesota and Nebraska. Other teams in the field of 15 include Oklahoma, Georgia, West Virginia, Iowa State, Arkansas - Little Rock, and Marquette..

Rutgers already competed against Ark - Little Rock, Nebraska, West Virginia, and Marquette in the New York Harbor Cup a couple weeks ago, finishing ahead of all but Little Rock.