The George Mason golf team opened the spring season today at the Atlantic 10 Match Play Championship at the Weston Hills Country Club in Weston, Fla.
Mason defeated La Salle 4.5 to 1.5 in first round action. Sophomore Brock Kovach and Junior Kyle Hart closed their matches out early, but winning by a count of 4 & 2. Eric Edwards found himself down the early, but won five consecutive holes to take a two hole lead, then held on down the stretch for a half. Sophomores Ellis Messian and Trevor Tremps each won their match 4 & 3 to secure the win. The highlight of the day was Tremps carding eagles on the par 5, 1st hole and another on the par 4, 6th hole.
After posting a win in the first round the fourth seeded Patriots were pitted against top seed VCU. The Rams defeated St. Bonaventure 5-1 in the morning match. The Patriots battled back and forth with some matches tied coming into the last few holes, but the Rams pulled out the 4.5 to 1.5 win to advance to the finals on Tuesday against number two seed Richmond.
The Patriots will play for 3rd place against Davidson, who lost to the Spiders 4.5-1.5 in the semifinals after defeating George Washington in their opening round.
In the VCU match Eric Edwards won his match 4 & 3, and Brock Kovach halved his match against with and up and down from 106 yards after finding the trees with his tee shot. Everyone else was in their match up until the last three holes.
“We played really well all day considering the amount of practice or lack of it, we have had this winter,” said Coach Scott King. “I was very satisfied with their effort and attitudes through the 36 holes played today.”
About the Atlantic 10 Match Championship: Eight of the 11 A-10 teams are participating in the A-10 Match Play Championship, and each team plays six student-athletes. Teams play six matches, earning one point for victory in each match and one-half of a point for a tie. The team with the most points will advance to the Championship side of the match play. In the event of a tie the winning team will be decided by the most overall holes won collectively as a team.
Teams were seeded based on the final Fall Golfstat rankings and are listed below:
1st Round Matches and Seeding
1) VCU vs. 8) St. Bonaventure
4) George Mason vs. 5) La Salle
2) Richmond vs. 7) Saint Joseph's
3) Davidson vs. 6) George Washington
