The Hillsdale College men's golf team played three solid rounds right at or just over par to kick off the spring half of its 2024-25 schedule with a seventh place finish at the Findlay Spring Invite on Tuesday.

Played on The Bull Course at Boone's Trace National Golf Club in Richmond, Kentucky, the event was a stacked showcase that included eight of the current top 10 teams in the Midwest Region in the most recent Clippd rankings, and therefore was a key opportunity for programs to assert themselves with NCAA Regional selections fast approaching. The Chargers held their own with consistent golf, shooting even-par 288s in the first two rounds on Monday as a team before posting a four-over 292 in the final round on Tuesday.

Junior Maxwell Burns led the Chargers with one of the best and most consistent invitational performances of his career, shooting a 70-73-74=217 to finish one-over par and tie for 24th overall. He was matched by teammate and sophomore Ryan O'Rourke, who opened with a scorching 68 that had him near the top of the leaderboard after the first round, before shooting 74-75 in the final two rounds to finish with 217 as well and in a tie for 24th place in a tough field. O'Rourke was among the tournament's top players on Par 4s, shooting two-under on those holes throughout the three rounds to finish in the top 10 among all golfers.

Another strong performer for the Chargers was senior Filippo Reale, who was in the scoring lineup of five golfers for the first time this season and responded with a solid 73-71-75=219 to finish at three over and tied for 34th. Sophomore Robert Thompson had a rough Monday for the Chargers with back-to-back 77s in the first two rounds, but rallied with an excellent performance in the final round on Tuesday, shooting a four-under 68 to finish tied for 45th with a 222 and help the Chargers hold on to seventh.

Freshman Jackson Piacsek finished tied for 64th to round out Hillsdale's scoring golfers, shooting a 77-70-79=226, while the Chargers had two additional golfers playing as individuals -- Christopher Desfassiaux, who carded a 76-79-76=231 to finish tied for 81st, and Charlie Belden, who shot an 80-77-78=235 to place 89th.

Hillsdale was rock-solid throughout the invitational, leading the tournament as a team in pars made with 169 across all five players and three rounds, while posting just 46 bogeys and nine bogeys that were double or more, in the top half of the field in both categories. O'Rourke was again a representative player for the Chargers, making par on 36 of the 54 holes he played this weekend to finish tied for seventh among all players.

The Chargers' finish this week keeps Hillsdale in solid position to remain in the top 10 in the Midwest Region and reach the NCAAs as a team for the first time since 2021, but there's work left to be done with two invitationals remaining before the G-MAC Championships in mid-April. Hillsdale will be in action again on Monday, March 31, traveling to the Hermitage Golf Course near Nashville to play in the Music City Invite hosted by Trevecca Nazarene. With several regional opponents expected to be in attendance, it's another opportunity for Hillsdale to solidify its spot in the top 10 in the Midwest Region rankings.

Photo by Tiffany Treppa