by Gavin Hall, Santa Clara Athletics Media Relations Student Assistant
BREMERTON, Wash. - Santa Clara men's golf was incredibly consistent this week as their scores ranged from 71 to 76 and each of their cumulative rounds each day were within two shots of each other. At the end of the three days, it would be a tied-5th finish for the Broncos with the ranked team in San Diego.
The top finisher this week was Calder Overfelt (71-71-73--215) came out with two sub-par rounds then today was 2-under through 14 holes, much thanks to an eagle on the par-5 No. 11. He followed up that stretch of holes by going 3-over through his final four holes to shoot a 1-over 73 and finish in tied-11th at 1-under overall. Julien Paltrinieri (71-75-72--218) had another great round today which included six birdies and a nice birdie-birdie-par trio of holes on Nos. 16, 17, and 18 to end his day. He would end up rising in the individual ranks by three spots to finish in 16th at 2-over.
Another player who consistently shot rounds very close to par this tournament was Alex Conley (72-74-73--219). His round today included 13 pars and a mix of birdies and bogeys resulting in a 1-over 73 and an overall tie for 17th place finish at 3 over par. Like Paltrinieri, the Final Round of Eugenio Bernardi (74-74-72--220) included five birdies allowing him to finish strong with a round of even-par 72. He had just one double bogey through the three rounds and finished in a tie for 21st. Viraj Garewal (76-70-D) unfortunately could not play in the Final Round but his Round 2 score of a 2-under 70, which included an impressive two eagles on par-5s, proved to be the lowest of any Bronco this week.
Santa Clara (288-289-290--867) dropped just one spot in the team rankings today to tie with 45th-ranked San Diego in 5th place with a cumulative 54-hole score of just 3 strokes over par. The Broncos also finished 15 shots clear of Saint Mary's who finished in sixth. BYU took home the team title today edging out USF and BYU's Zac Jones came away with medalist honors with an overall score of 9-under 207.
Reflecting on the season, the Santa Clara men's golf team finished in the top half of the field in seven of the 12 events they played in with their best finish in a field of over 10 teams coming at the Desert Mountain Collegiate in which they placed 4th out of 16 schools. Paltrinieri, a Graduate Student, had the lowest scoring average of the Broncos this season at 71.69 strokes per round and his best finish came at the John Burns Intercollegiate in which he placed T6 out of 126 players. Fellow Grad Garewal had the most Top-10 finishes of any Bronco at three and had himself a podium finish at the Desert Mountain Collegiate where he finished in tied-3rd place.
Freshman Overfelt made his mark in his opening season starting in every event but one and earned a T3rd finish out of 112 players at the Bandon Dunes Invitational earlier in the spring. Fellow Freshman Bernardi played in nine events this year and had his best finish at the USF Invitational at T12th place. Another duo in the same year are Forsman and Conley who are both Seniors who each made crucial contributions to the team in their final season as Broncos. Forsman's best finish came at the Alister MacKenzie Invitational where he placed solo 13th and Conley's came at the Desert Mountain Collegiate where he finished in tied-12th place.
