The Valparaiso University men’s golf team enters Tuesday’s second and final day of the Twin Oaks Intercollegiate with its eyes set on closing out a team championship. The Beacons opened the event with a strong performance on Monday, and sat atop a 16-team leaderboard at 11 strokes under par when play was halted midway through the second round due to inclement weather. Due to the interruption, the event will be shortened from 54 holes to 36 holes and will be completed on Tuesday morning at the par-71, 6760-yard Twin Oaks Country Club in Springfield, Mo. The team’s Round-1 score on Monday represented one of the best marks in modern program history.

How It Happened

• A group of three Valpo golfers in the top 10 on the player leaderboard is led by Yianni Kostouros (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point [Ball State]), who was five strokes under par at the time weather interrupted play. He is in second place in an 89-golfer field, trailing only Wichita State’s Dawson Lewis, who holds a two-stroke lead on Kostouros for the top spot. He posted a 67 (-4) in Round 1.
• Joining Kostouros in the top 10 after one day of action are Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) and Anthony Delisanti (Sanborn, N.Y. / Niagara Wheatfield), both of whom are three strokes under par. VanArragon finished with a 68 (-2) in Round 1, while Delisanti carded a 71 (E). VanArragon and Delisanti are tied for seventh. 
• Freshman Sam Booth (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) also contributed to the strong showing, going even par in the first round and sustaining that in the portion of Round 2 that was played on Monday. He is tied for 15^th entering the final day of action.
• Golfing as an individual, Mason Bonn (Sherwood, Ore. / Sherwood) is one stroke over par. He posted a 72 (+1) in Round 1, as all six Beacons carded scores of 72 or better over the 18 holes, including Garrett Willis (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Homestead), who also stroked a 72 in the opening round.
• Valpo finished the first round with a team score of 278 (-6) and completed the portion of play completed on Monday at 11 strokes under par. Valpo is a single stroke ahead of Oral Roberts for the tournament lead and two strokes ahead of third-place Wichita State.

Inside the Round

• Six Missouri Valley Conference members are participating in this event, which is hosted by Missouri State. Valpo by far leads the MVC portion of the field, with none of the conference competitors within 11 strokes of the Beacons.
• Valpo’s Round-1 score of 278 is the second-best 18-hole score in modern program history (since the 2009 relaunch), behind only the program-record 273 in the first round of the Golfweek Program Challenge on Sept. 7, 2014.
• In terms of 18-hole round low in relation to par, the minus-six is tied for second in program history with two others (2018 Golfweek Program Challenge Round 1, 2019 Crusader Collegiate Round 2) behind only the aforementioned 2014 Golfweek Program Challenge Round 1 (-15).
• With his 67 in Round 1, Kostouros enjoyed his best collegiate round. His previous career low was 69 in 2019-20 while competing for Ball State and his previous Valpo low was 70.
• Furthermore, Kostouros tied for the sixth-best 18-hole round in terms of overall score in modern program history. He also tied for ninth in the program record book in terms of 18-hole score in relation to par.
• Valpo leads the tournament field in both par-3 scoring average and par-5 scoring average. Valpo holds a 2.92 average on par-3 holes and a 4.52 on par 5s.
• The Beacons boast a tournament-most 27 birdies, led by Kostouros with seven.
• Kostouros also eagled the par-5 third hole in Round 2.
• Delisanti holds the second-best Par-3 scoring average of any participant at 2.63.

Up Next

The Beacons will try to close out the Twin Oaks Intercollegiate title on Tuesday at the Twin Oaks Country Club in Springfield, Mo. The second – and now final – round will resume at 8 a.m. with live scoring available via BirdieFire.