April 21, 2008

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (UWIRE) --

During yesterday's tournament awards ceremony, head coach Greg Nye boldly stated this is probably the best regular season team he's had in the last 15 years.

With just one finish outside of the top 5 this entire year -- last week at Ohio State -- the Penn State men's golf team found themselves back in the top 5 and on top of the final leaderboard for the first time this spring.

"They've done some amazing things," said Nye.

"Head-to-head, they gotta be something like 110-15, so it's just been an amazing record. I never thought in my wildest imagination the guys would have 15 losses in the entire year when you can have 15 losses in a single tournament."

The Nittany Lions captured their first win of the spring season, leading wire-to-wire to hold off runner-up Miami (Ohio) in the Rutherford Intercollegiate at the Blue Course.

Penn State shot a three-round total of 26-over-par 878, 16 strokes better than the Red Hawks. The Lions have now won the tournament 15 out of the last 17 years, despite having to fight off Mother Nature in the final round.

Senior Robert Rohanna repeated as the individual champion with a three-round total of 216, including a tournament-low 68 on Saturday.

Nye was impressed with Rohanna's low round because it came on Saturday afternoon when there were extremely high winds -- tougher conditions than the soggy course conditions yesterday.

Rohanna said his putting was his Achilles' heel this weekend. He calculated about nine missed putts inside three feet.

When trying to putt, Rohanna would have to remove his hat a few times because water would spill off the lid of his cap, disrupting his concentration.

"I had a lot of three-putts and it's tough playing out here today," Rohanna said. "That was the hardest rain I think I ever played in. You can't stay dry, it's impossible with no caddy. I had like six towels."

Yesterday's rain was a far cry from Saturday's weather. With temperatures hovering around 80 degrees, the Lions exploited the fair conditions and shot a two-round total of 4-over-par 572, giving them an 11-shot advantage heading into yesterday's final round.

But torrential downpours for a three-to-four-hole stretch caused added difficulty on an already long golf course. Rohanna said that hitting the ball solid in the rain took away about 10 yards, and not hitting the ball solid could take away as many as 15 yards.

(C) 2008 Daily Collegian via UWIRE