The Virginia men’s golf team began its spring season on a positive note last week, placing fifth at the John Burns Intercollegiate held in Kauai, Hawaii. It was Virginia’s fifth top-five finish in six total tournaments of the 2015-16 season dating back to the fall.
The team finished the Wednesday to Friday tournament at 4-over 868, two shots ahead of 6th-place University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Texas won the 16-team tournament with an impressive 20-under 844, breaking reigning champ California’s streak of five straight victories at the tournament. California ultimately placed second overall with a three-day total of 15-under 849.
The Cavaliers effectively fell out of contention after Wednesday’s opening round, in which the team posted an 8-over 296, which left it in a three-way tie for ninth and a full 20 shots behind Texas, who led the tournament from wire-to-wire.
Virginia, however, made steady progress in Thursday’s second round, shooting 1-over 289 to move them to a total 9-over 585 and a three-way tie for eighth. On Friday’s final round of play, the team posted a strong 5-under 283, the second lowest team mark of the day, which catapulted them to a top-five finish for the tournament.
Individually for Virginia, sophomore Danny Walker finished seventh at 2-under 214, his third-career top-10 finish. Junior Jimmy Stanger finished 18th overall at even-par 216 after a final round 4-under 68, the team’s low round for the tournament . Each of the team’s other three starters — freshman Thomas Walsh (3-over 219), junior Derek Bard (6-over 222) and senior Kyle Kochevar (17-over 233) — finished outside of the top 30.
The Cavaliers hope to carry the momentum from the strong showing at the John Burns when they will take the course as a team March 7 for the two-day Palmetto Intercollegiate in Aiken, S.C.