Junior Mark Connelly shot a 3-under-par 139 to win the O'Briant--Jensen Memorial on Tuesday. Connelly is the third straight Hawk to win the tournament, joining Addison Lambeth (2015) and Will Thrash (2016). (Photo by Trey Kawugule, Guilford Athletics)
Junior Mark Connelly shot a 3-under-par 139 to win the O'Briant--Jensen Memorial on Tuesday. Connelly is the third straight Hawk to win the tournament, joining Addison Lambeth (2015) and Will Thrash (2016). (Photo by Trey Kawugule, Guilford Athletics)

Connelly earns 1st win to lead Huntingdon in O’Briant-Jensen

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior Mark Connelly won his first tournament as a Hawk and the Huntingdon men's golf team placed third in the O'Briant-Jensen Memorial on Tuesday.

The tournament marked the end of the fall season for the top-ranked Hawks. Huntingdon finished in the top three in each of its five tournaments this fall.

A day after firing his best round of varsity golf with a 3-under-par 68, Connelly closed the tournament with an even-par 71 in the final round. Connelly's two-round 139 edged Greensboro's Grant Powell by one stroke.

The 139 is the fourth best two-round total in the history of O'Briant-Jensen medalists. This is the third straight season a Huntingdon golfer has won the tournament. Addison Lambeth earned medalist honors in 2015 and Will Thrash was the tournament winner in 2016.

As a team, the third-place Hawks finished three strokes out of first. Huntingdon shot 7-over 291 in the final round and 15-over 583 for the tournament. Fifth-ranked Methodist won the tournament with a 12-over 580. Carnegie Mellon was second with a 13-over 581.

Behind Connelly, junior Stephen Shephard finished six strokes out of first and tied for fourth. Shephard shot a 3-over 74 in the final round and 3-over 145 for the tournament.

Sophomore Drew Mathers shot a 1-over 72 in the final round and 8-over 150 to tie for 26th. Senior Jon Colten Stanaland finished two strokes behind Mathers and tied for 35th with a two-round 152 and junior Henry Gee shot 153 to tie for 43rd. Gee shot a 3-over 74 in the final round.

Playing as an individual, freshman Ben Harris shot 2-over 73 in the final round and tied for 13th with a 5-over 147 in the tournament.

 

Director of Golf Dave Schreyer on closing out the fall season: "It was an interesting fall. We played solid, but could not finish an event. We have a lot of growing up to do on the back end.

"But I'm happy to see us have three different individual winners in five events this fall. That is really good. It was great to see Mark close out the tournament today. He was solid as a rock this fall and he deserved a win."