Men’s Golf Finishes Third at OTC Collegiate

Tuesday, September 25

Winston-Salem, NC

Rutgers University

OTC Collegiate Invitational

Photo by: (Ben Solomon/Rutgers Athletics)

Sep 25 | Men's Golf

Final Team Results Individual Leaderboard Individual Course Statistics

Three Scarlet Knights close out tournament under par in Winston-Salem, N.C.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Rutgers men's golf enjoyed its best team performance of the fall as it finished third at the Old Town Club Collegiate on Tuesday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Scarlet Knights shot 13-under-par at the tournament, improving its 18-hole score each round (282-273-272) during the two-day event.

For the second consecutive outing, junior Tony Jiang paced the program with a tied-for-eight finish, coming in at six-under-par for the tournament (70-66-68). Rookie Shayler Dance (-67) and sophomores Oliver Whatley (68) and Christopher Gotterup (69) all shot under par during the final round, helping RU secure an eight-under-par 272 on Tuesday. It was the second-lowest team of the final round.

Big finish for the Knights! -8 272 on the day to finish 3rd at the OTC Collegiate. @oliverwhatley and @Chris_Gotterup recap the day. pic.twitter.com/GSB76MpKmb
— RU Mens Golf (@RUMensGolf) September 25, 2018

"Rounds two and three were great for us, so it was good to see us bounce back after our performance at Wisconsin to open the fall," said head coach Rob Shutte. "We were paired up with some good teams these past two days. We needed to play well to hold our position or move up, and we did that today. It was exciting for the guys because they know they are capable of playing even better."

Jiang played consistently during all three round, highlighted by a four-under-par 66 in round two on Monday. On Tuesday, Jiang used three birdies and 12 pars to finish with a two-under-par 68 in his final round. Jiang had 11 birdies and 38 pars during his three rounds of play. For Jiang, this marks his second consecutive top-10 finish, as he also tied for fifth with a five-under-par 211 (67-72-72) at the Badger Invitational earlier this month.

Whatley and Gotterup both closed out the tournament with strong final rounds to tie for 12^th. Whatley had three birdies and an eagle on hole 17, while Gotterup carded an eagle on hole four and added 16 pars. Whatley (71-67-68) also had a bogey-free round on Monday, and Gotterup (70-67-69) finished the tournament third in par 5 scoring at seven under.

Dance shot up the leaderboard during the final round, moving up 21 spots with his three-under-par 67 in just the second collegiate tournament of his career. The Dallas native opened play Tuesday with birdies on holes one and three, and closed out play with back-to-back birdies on holes 10 and 11.

In his first collegiate action for the Scarlet Knights after his transfer from Rhode Island, sophomore Bobby Weise tied for 68^th (71-73-80). As an individual, sophomore Putt Sridama tied for 64^th (71-73-75).

Rutgers has a few weeks off before it competes in the Mountaineer Invitational from Oct. 8-9 in Bridgeport, West Virginia. The Scarlet Knights finished third at last year's installment of the tournament, as Gotterup and Jiang tied for 10^th in 2017.

3	Rutgers	282	273	272	827
T8	Tony Jiang	70	66	68	204
T12	Christopher Gotterup	70	67	69	206
T12	Oliver Whatley	71	67	68	206
T44	Shayler Dance	72	75	67	214
T64	Putt Sridama*	71	73	75	219
T68	Bobby Weise	71	73	80	224

*competed as an individual

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