The Valparaiso University men’s golf team enters the final day of the Wright State Invitational hoping to close out its fifth runner-up finish of the season as the Beacons hold the runner-up position through 36 holes. Valpo is set to play its final pre-championship round on Monday at the par-71, 7075-yard Heatherwoode Golf Club in Springboro, Ohio. The tournament uses an unusual six-count-four format.  
How It Happened

• Valpo owns a five-stroke lead on IUPUI for second place in the 13-team event. The Beacons posted a 36-hole score of 592 (+24) with the Jaguars at 597 (+29). Host Wright State is in good position to close out the team title as the Raiders own a 17-stroke lead on Valpo at 575 (+7). Valpo finished with a solid Round-1 score of 291, just one stroke behind Wright State through 18 holes, but the Beacons needed 301 strokes to complete Round 2.
• Junior Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) turned in a team-best 146 (+4) on Sunday, placing him tied for fifth on the player leaderboard. Davis Root of Wright State holds the top spot at 142 (E). VanArragon started the day with 72 before carding a 74 in the afternoon round.
• There is a second Beacon in the top 10 through 36 holes as freshman Anthony Delisanti (Sanborn, N.Y. / Niagara Wheatfield) posted a 74 in each round to finish the day at 148 (+6, t-10).
• Golfing out of the sixth position in the Valpo lineup, Mason Bonn (Sherwood, Ore. / Sherwood) is tied for 13^th overall with 18 holes remaining. He used a 72 (+1) in Round 1 to finish the opening day with a 149 (+7).

Inside the Rounds

• Valpo has performed well on Par- 4 (4.33) and Par-5 (4.94) holes as the team owns the second-best scoring average in the tournament in each of those two categories.
• The Beacons produced 23 birdies on Sunday, the third-most in the tournament field. Delisanti paced the team with six, while VanArragon and Yianni Kostouros (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point [Ball State]) turned in five apiece.
• VanArragon enters Monday hoping to close out his eighth top-five finish this season. Valpo has finished as the team champion or tournament runner-up in five of its 10 tournaments this season (excluding a single-round event) and has hopes of notching its sixth top-two finish of the year on Tuesday.  

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring

“While I was very pleased with the effort today by all seven of our players, we struggled on the course, mainly in the second round. The weather was certainly a factor, especially the below freezing temps to start the first round. Even by the middle of the afternoon, the temps were still in the mid-40s. The guys never complained about the 10-12 mph wind or the temps, but it was a grind all day. It’s challenging to keep up the concentration on the golf course for 10 hours over the 36 holes when there’s no break from the weather.”

“We simply didn't play as sharply as we are accustomed to. Our putting was pretty poor, especially the speed of our putts. The greens are in amazing shape and rolling very well, but we had a lot of 3-putts from poor speed. We weren’t sharp with our wedges and didn’t knock enough of them close to the pin for birdies. Twenty-three birdies for six guys over two rounds just isn't enough. Lastly, our Par-3 scoring was some of our worst of the year. That's typically an area that we pick up shots from the field and we didn’t take advantage at all today."

“The guys were giving it their best and I really admire their determination in playing through the adverse conditions.  While Caleb didn't have a very good day with his ball-striking, his chipping around the greens was exemplary and allowed him to scramble for a lot of pars. Sam and Caleb led our team with 23 pars each and Anthony led the team with six birdies. Despite the weather forecast being questionable again for tomorrow, we are looking forward to one more opportunity for regular-season competition.”

Up Next

The Beacons will play the final 18 holes of the Wright State Invitational in Springboro, Ohio on Monday. The start of Monday’s round has been pushed back to 9 a.m. CT. A link to live scoring via GolfStat is available on ValpoAthletics.com.