After a series of individual successes during the summer, the Drexel men’s golf team had a promising start to the season this past weekend. The Dragons competed at the 24th annual Leo Keenan Invitational at St. Bonaventure University. The Dragons finished fifth out of eight teams in their opening event of the season. Freshman Christopher Crawford placed the highest out of all the Dragons. Crawford started the tournament on a good note with a birdie on the first hole. He continued his success and finished with a 74 and 73 for a round score of 147. Crawford finished fifth out of the 44 golfers that competed. Along with the impressive display in his first collegiate contest, Crawford also took third overall in par-3 scoring.
Crawford credited the great leadership of the four seniors for his impressive opening.
“It was a lot of fun to be there with four seniors on the team. They all showed great leadership and made it easy for me to feel comfortable and acclimated at my first college event,” Crawford said.
Seniors Andrew Lawson and James Braunsberg had a score of 148, which was good enough for ninth place. Braunsberg finished seventh overall in pars with 21, while Lawson led the tournament in par-5 scoring. Senior Ben Feld, who won the 2012 Montgomery County Amateur Championship, finished with a score of 159 and tied for 32nd overall in the tournament. Finally, Senior Billy Reube shot a combined score of 177.
Coach Mike Dynda praised the team’s opening performance: “The team performed quite well for the first event. Three players in the top 10 is a wonderful start.”
Along with the impressive start, Dynda envisions a bright future for this team in upcoming events. The depth provided by his seniors and Crawford gives him great confidence in his team’s chances to compete in every contest.
“We have four players on this squad who can win any event we play in. We need someone to jump into the fifth spot. It may be quite a fun season,” Dynda said of his team’s chances this season. We look forward to see who steps up in the upcoming contests to continue the early-season success.