Hillsdale's young men's golf team got off to a strong start to the 2024-25 campaign this week at the Malone-Glenmoor Invitational, leading through two rounds and finishing third overall as a team on Tuesday at the Glenmoor Country Club.

The Chargers were a stroke ahead of the field at 15-over following 36 strong holes on Monday, but couldn't sustain that level through the finish on Tuesday, carding a 300 in the final round to finish at 891 strokes for the weekend, three behind eventual champion Lewis and one behind runner-up Catawba.

Although Hillsdale didn't top the leaderboard, it was still an impressive beginning for the Chargers, who were without their top returning player in terms of average strokes from 2023-24, Oliver Marshall, for the invitational. In Marshall's absence, Hillsdale's other young stars stepped up and played well, as the Chargers had three players in the top 10 with sophomores Ryan O'Rourke and Robert Thompson and freshman Aryan Sharma all tying for seventh place with a five-over score of 221.

O'Rourke played two strong rounds of 72 and 71 on Monday to help get the Chargers in a strong position, while Thompson closed with an even-par 72 in round two and a 73 in round three to lead Hillsdale across the line.

In his first collegiate match, Sharma flashed his talent and potential, firing the lowest round of any Charger on the weekend with a 70 in round one, and rebounding from a shaky middle round to close with a solid 73 and help keep the Chargers near the top of the leaderboard.

Junior Maxwell Burns finished tied for 22nd as well for the Chargers with a three-round score of 230, shooting a scoring round of 77 in round one and 76 in round three, while senior Charlie Belden finished tied for 36th with a three-round score of 237 and was Hillsdale's fourth scoring golfer in round two with a 76.

Senior Filippo Reale also played as an individual for Hillsdale in the invitational, shooting 244 across three rounds and tying for 52nd place.

Hillsdale will be back in action next week as the Chargers host their own invitational in the state of Michigan for the first time with the inaugural Get To Foundation Invitational at the Cardinal Course at St. John's Golf Resort in Plymouth, Michigan on Monday, Sept. 16 and Tuesday, Sept. 17. Ten teams in total will take to the course next week, including some of the Midwest Region's traditional top teams, as well as G-MAC foes Findlay, Tifin, Northwood, Malone and Cedarville.