College golf tournament expanding in Cape Region
October 4, 2002
Kings Creek Country Club played host once again for the George Washington University Rehoboth Beach Invitational college golf tournament, held on September 30.
The big news, however, is not only that the tournament is back on its original schedule during the Cape Region’s fall shoulder season. The increasingly popular college sports event will now be a twice-a-year event, with a spring tournament now scheduled for April 14, 2003.
Last fall’s tournament was rained out, and eventually played this spring. The reaction by several of the golf coaches and players to playing here on April 15 convinced GWU head golf coach Scott Allen to see if they could expand their playing opportunities to two events at the local course. Thanks in part to the fact that Allen’s parents live in Kings Creek, this turned out to be no big problem.
“The Kings Creek members are so cooperative and nice. It’s great to hold a college golf tournament where the members and staff make us all feel so welcome,” Allen said.
“The spring event has a little bit of a scheduling advantage, because by then there’s daylight savings time, and we have a bit more hours of daylight to finish the event than in the fall,” Allen explained. “I believe that 15 teams is about the limit of what we can handle in April. Thus far we have commitments from Colgate, Niagara, Liberty University, Monmouth, Hofstra, St. Peters, and Long Island University. Of course, GW will also be there,” Allen grinned.
This year’s fall tournament featured 10 teams from 8 schools, who finished in the following order: Binghamton (597), Navy (602), Iona (605), George Washington (606), Columbia (611), George Washington B (617), Delaware (639), Fairfield (647), Mount St. Mary’s (647), and Navy B (673).
Navy’s Brian Crum took medalist honors with a 71-72-143 total.
The “local team” from the University of Delaware is also a young one. Sophomore Chase Miller led his squad with a 27th place finish. Three freshmen, Devin Milowe, Hall Chaney, and B.J. Jaworski completed the scoring for the Blue Hens.
Allen said, “We didn’t finish as well as I hoped. We’re a pretty young team, and maybe they got a little tired at the end of the day. As far as the overall competition went, this year was a little different. Before, there would be a real dogfight, with some team putting up really low numbers to take the event. This time, Binghamton played steady, and most of the other teams tended to struggle a bit.”
GW’s Thomas Blankvoort, from the Netherlands Antilles, set the tournament record low round with a 66 during last spring’s event. This week’s tournament set a different record, with one Division I player finishing with a 106.
“A 40 stroke spread between the lowest and highest scores is really unusual, but this course can be a real problem for some players,” Allen said. “It’s a challenge because you have to place the ball in the right spot, or pay the consequences.”
Allen noted that this week’s overall scoring average on #2 was 5.81, while the short but tricky par-5 16th hole came in with a nearly equal 5.6 average. “You put a few 11s and 12s into the mix, and it takes a lot of birdies to bring down that average,” Allen said.
The volunteers, the course, and the amenities offered by the Cape Region for fall golf came in for additional compliments. “The Binghamton coach stood up in front of the crowd at the end of the evening and praised the event and especially the volunteers,” Allen said. “Everybody had a good time. Kings Creek is a good course for college golf. The coaches and players really liked Rehoboth Beach, and it’s such a great time of year for college golf. The good rates we’re able to get for the accommodations also help a lot.”
“This tournament is only going to get even better as we go on.”