Sophomore Anthony Delisanti (Sanborn, N.Y. / Niagara Wheatfield) once again led the way as the Valparaiso University men’s golf team played the first 36 holes of the 54-hole Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate on Monday. Delisanti and senior teammate Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) combined to go par or better in all four of their collective rounds on the first day of action at the event, which is being hosted by Arkansas State at the par-72, 6565-yard RidgePointe Country Club in Jonesboro, Ark.

How It Happened

• Delisanti started his day with an even-par round of 72 over the first 18 holes before following with a 69 (-3) in the afternoon round. His performance has him positioned in the top 10 at t-6 in a 69-player field with 18 holes to go. His 36-hole score of 141 (-3) is five strokes behind Arkansas State’s Devyn Pappas for the tournament lead. All five golfers in front of Delisanti are from either Belmont or host Arkansas State.
• VanArragon finished the day at 143 (-1, 72-71), ranking tied for 11^th on the player leaderboard.
• Senior Yianni Kostouros (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point [Ball State]) and freshman Owen Sander (Carme, Ind. / Carmel) accounted for Valpo’s next best scores, as both finished the day at 150 (+6). Sander turned in a 73 in the opening Round, while Kostouros posted a 75 in each round.
• The Beacons are in fourth place on the team leaderboard at 580 (+4) as they own a 12-stroke lead over the fifth-place team in the 11-squad field. Head coach Dave Gring’s team is chasing Arkansas State, Oklahoma Christian and Belmont entering Tuesday, needing to make up five strokes on the Bruins for third. Valpo leads Missouri Valley Conference foes Evansville, Bradley and Murray State in a field where five of the 11 teams are from the MVC.

Inside the Round

• The Beacons posted a 4.18 average on par-4 holes, the third best in the tournament on Monday.
• Valpo boasted an eye-popping three eagles on Monday, two from Sander and one from Kostouros. Sander posted one eagle in each round, turning the trick on the par-4 third hole in Round 1 and the par-5 sixth hole in Round 2. The Kostouros eagle came on the par-5 fifth hole in the second round.
• Valpo turned in 30 birdies, led by VanArragon and Delisanti with eight apiece.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring

“RidgePointe CC probably has the best greens that we are going to play the entire season. They are running at a very good speed and they are challenging to read. We knew that we would have to be on the correct side of the hole and to be very conscious of our speed with our putting. I felt the guys putted very well, especially with their speed on the greens and reading the greens. Our birdie production was much better in the second round, and the guys made more adjustments on the greens in the second round.”

“The bermuda and zoysia grass is another adjustment that we have had to make for this tourney. The ball definitely sits down differently in the rough and around the greens. We knew the importance of hitting fairways off the tees and hitting the greens, especially with no short sides. We are going to have to hit more fairways and greens tomorrow to give us more birdie opportunities.”

“We're going to need a little more balance throughout our lineup tomorrow for our team to post our best score of the tournament. Owen helped us in Round 1 and Mason stepped up in Round 2. Anthony and Caleb hit a lot of fairways and greens and I thought they read the greens very well. We will need to continue to adjust to the speed of the greens and get some more putts to drop tomorrow.”

Up Next

The event will conclude on Tuesday with the final 18 holes. Tee times will begin at 7:45 a.m. off the first and 10^th tees. A link to live scoring via GolfStat is available on ValpoAthletics.com.