Lloyd Jefferson Go’s strong performance over the weekend secured his third individual title and helped Seton Hall men’s golf to a team championship at the Princeton Invitational.
The defending Big East individual champion looked sharp through the first two rounds at Springdale Country Club. He finished day one two-under-par, 69 and followed that up with an impressive six-under-par, 65, in round two. Go kept a clean sheet for a majority of the two rounds as he only picked up two bogies to go along with his 10 birdies.
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Photo via SHU Athletics[/caption]
The Pirates went into Sunday’s final 18 holes, back 4-strokes and tied for third place with Harvard trailing tournament host Princeton (7-over) and field leader Minnesota (5-over). The Hall used a historic effort on Saturday to propel themselves into title contention with a performance that saw them shave 15 strokes off of their first round score to finish 3-under-par, 281, in round two and 9-over-par, 296-281-577 after two. The 3-under performance tied for fourth-lowest par-71 in school history.
On Sunday, Go showed up big again finishing the day 1-under-par 70. However, he would receive major help as three other Pirates shot under par Sunday. In the effort, the Pirates saw their 4-stroke deficit turn into a 5-stroke lead, a tournament championship and another historical round. The Pirates shot an impressive 8-under-par, 276, which was the best single round by any team throughout the tournament. That score broke the Pirates’ par-71 single-round record set during the Rutgers invitational in 2008.
For the tournament, the Hall shot 1-over-par (296-281-853) to best Harvard who it headed into the day tied with. The team’s championship on Sunday became the 28th in the program’s history and first since the 2016 Carlton Oaks WIU Invitational. Go’s performance on Sunday saw him finish 9-under-par for the tournament propelling him 5-strokes ahead of Harvard’s Aurian Capart to secure his third individual championship. Go’s win makes him the second player in program history to collect three or more individual titles over their Seton Hall careers.
Go and the Pirates look to capture another team championship when they head to State College, Pa. to participate in the Rutherford Intercollegiate Tournament hosted by Penn State University from April 15-16.
Khadeem McLean can be reached at khadeem.mclean@student.shu.edu.
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