CRANSON, R.I. – The Tufts University golf team improved 15 strokes on its performance from yesterday to jump up to a sixth-place finish out of 19 teams at the Wildcat Spring Invitational hosted by Johnson & Wales.
The two-day tournament was played at the par 71 Cranston Country Club. Tufts' four-best scores on Saturday had amounted to 326 and they were tied for seventh place. They lowered it to 311 on Sunday for a final total of 637. The Jumbos finished three behind of fifth-place Endicott (634) and were a stroke in front of seventh-place Johnson & Wales (638).
Junior Justin Feldman and freshman Harry Theodore had the top Tufts rounds on Sunday with +5 76s, and they were joined below 80 by freshman Alex Honigford at 79. After shooting a 95 on Saturday, senior Nik Nugnes improved a dramatic 15 strokes with an 80 on Sunday.
Feldman tied for 14th individually with a two-day 157 (+15). Honigford totaled 160 to finish in the top 32 out of 99 golfers at the event. Karr had a 161 for the tournament, Theodore finished at 162 and Nugnes recorded a 175.
Husson University won the tournament after a 293 team score on Sunday. Their final score of 602 strokes won by 12 over second-place Western New England (614). Golden Eagle John Abbott was the individual medalist at 73-73-146 (+4). He won by three strokes.
In the fall Tufts placed third at the annual NESCAC Qualifier, with the top four teams moving on to the conference championship. That's coming up next weekend at Indian Hill Country Club in Newington, Connecticut. This marks the first time that Tufts has been one of the four teams to advance to the conference championship since the Qualifier was instituted in 2007. Prior to that, all of the league's golf teams played in the championship event.
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