Spiders fall to second place on final day of Atlantic 10 Championship

The University of Richmond men’s golf team suffered a heartbreaking fall to second place in the Atlantic 10 Championship on the final day, losing by one stroke. 

Hoping for a title for the first time since 2017, the Spiders put everything on the line at the Evermore Resort in Orlando, Fla. Richmond played the same course last season, recording a 23-over-par team score that put it in fifth place in the conference. 

This season, a prominent second round led the Spiders to tally a collective 9-under-par. Despite all their work on the course, Davidson College came up from behind in the last five holes, recording six birdies and an eagle to take the title. 

A solid 1-over-par first round put Richmond in fourth place, only four shots behind the leading Wildcats.

"It wasn't our best day, but we're actually still in a really good spot," Head Coach Adam Decker said in a press conference after the round. "We had some guys make some bigger numbers early but they were able to battle back. That was great to see."

 First-year Carson Baez led the effort, making his A-10 debut with a 4-under-par that placed him first individually after the round. Mere miles away from his home in Windermere, Fla., Baez felt at ease in the familiar territory.

"It stunk to finish with a bogey but it was still a really solid round and I was extremely happy with how I played," Baez said in a press release after the round. "I just felt super comfortable being in my hometown." 

Baez's round is the lowest by a Spider first-year at the A-10 Championship since 2017, the year Richmond won its only A-10 title. 

Richmond surged into first place after recording an 11-under-par second round, the seventh-best round in program history. The score was eight shots better than the next team, giving the Spiders a five shot lead. 

Senior Patrick Isztwan and sophomore Jack LaPiana both carded the lowest round of their college careers. Isztwan moved 17 spots up the individual leaderboard into a tie for fifth and LaPiana slid into a tie for 15th. 

“Incredible timing,” Decker said after the second round. “That's a pretty special day to have two guys with a career-low round. I think we've been saying it all year that the team is so deep that anybody can step up on a given day and be the low guy.”

Baez and senior Cole Ekert continued to lead the Spiders individually, the two tied for third on the individual leaderboard. 

“It was a great day, a great end to the second round, but the job's not finished," Decker said. 

While the third round was nowhere near disastrous for Richmond, it wasn’t enough to secure a victory. Numerous bogeys scattered throughout the day put half of the team above par, leaving LaPiana and Ekert’s under par scores to boost the Spider’s to 1-over-par as a team.

LaPiana started the day strong, recording an eagle on a par 4, his first hole of the day. His second under-par score in a row put him a tie for 11th place. 

Maintaining consistency, Ekert carded his third 3-under-par in a row. His 6-under-par overall score gave him a second place podium finish. This finish marks his third straight top five placement in the A-10 Championship. The Spiders were continuing a solid tournament performance, meaning a miracle would have to take place to take first place away from them. 

Seeking its leading position from the first round, Davidson entered the back nine ready to play. Recording birdie after birdie, the Wildcats quickly closed the score gap. 

“We knew we were in a good spot on 14, 15, and 16. A couple of things had to go perfect [for Davidson] for us to go one [stroke] down,” Head Coach Adam Decker said after the tournament. 

While Davidson picked up six birdies and an eagle on the last five holes, the Spiders carded three birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey. In spite of a three day fight to win, Richmond fell one shot short. 

“We all gave it our all for 54 holes and it's one shot. That's the crazy thing about golf,” Ekert said. “My whole goal this week was to just play as well as I can and our team is so deep and so solid from top to bottom I figured everybody else would kind of follow suit. I think we can only be proud of our performance.”

Contact sports editor Abigail Finney at abigail.finney@richmond.edu