Four Virginia golfers attended the Golden Horseshoe Intercollegiate, hosted by William and Mary, and all four placed inside the top 15 in a field of 86. Virginia did not compete as a team, only having added the tournament to its schedule after the Next Man Up Invitational’s cancellation last month. Freshman Maxi Puregger, sophomore Sam O’Hara and seniors Matthew Monastero and Benny Hagin made up the team’s squad at the tournament.
The first two rounds were played Monday, with one in the morning and one in the afternoon, while the final round was held early Tuesday.
The 36-hole slog Monday did not seem to affect the Cavaliers’ performances. Puregger stood at fifth place overall and one-under par after the opening day, with Monastero close behind in eighth place, hovering at even-par. Hagin and O’Hara were both inside the top 20, shooting one-over and three-over, respectively.
The competition was likely the weakest the team has faced all season, with the No. 9 Cavaliers the only ranked program in attendance. While not a single Cavalier finished under par for the tournament, after the team’s last tournament — a fifth-place finish at The Hayt ending in a team-wide collapse in the final round — finishing highly this week represented a nice change.
The final round in Williamsburg saw some movement on the leaderboard for the Cavaliers. Puregger played consistently throughout the tournament but dropped two spots in the final round — after shooting a one-under 70 and an even-par 71 in the first two rounds, he finished with a one-over 72 for a seventh-place finish.
It was a similar story for Monastero, whose consistency in his first appearance this season could not save him from dropping from eighth to 11th in the third round. He shot a one-under 70 in the first but finished with a one-over 72 and a two-over 73 for a two-over tournament.
Haggins was up and down throughout. He finished 15th, a four-place drop from the first day. The first round saw him shoot a four-over 75, with the second seeing a much stronger three-under 68, and the final round seeing a three-over 74. Haggins shot four-over for the tournament.
O’Hara, in contrast to his teammates, had one of the most impressive surges a Cavalier has had all season, jumping 10 places from 18th to 8th. He shot a five-over 76 in the first round, but rocketed up the leaderboard with back-to-back two-under 69s. He finished one-over.
The two days in Williamsburg represented an opportunity for a rebound and a chance for players who haven’t been featured heavily to get more reps. The four Cavaliers who competed took the opportunity and ran with it.
If they had not competed as individuals, Virginia would have collectively shot seven-over par, good for second among the schools competing as teams.
Only two tournaments remain before the ACC Championships in Bowling Green, Ky., at The Club at Olde Stone in late April. The Cavaliers will start their final stretch at The Calusa Cup in Naples, Fla., hosted by Iowa. The Cup is a three-day tournament, beginning April 6, and will include three ranked schools besides Virginia in No. 6 Louisiana State, No. 11 Florida and No. 15 UCLA.
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