12 minute read
The Rutherford Intercollegiate
R.B. “Pop” Rutherford, Sr.
"The Father of Penn State Golf"
Advertisement
The Rutherford Intercollegiate, hosted by Penn State, has become one of the top events in the Northeast, annually featuring a top field of Eastern teams and several squads from around the nation.
The Nittany Lions have dominated the Rutherford since it was established as the Nittany Lion Invitational in 1975, winning the tournament 27 times. Twenty Penn State golfers have medaled atop the leaderboard, the last was Cole Miller, a Nittany Lion senior from New Tripoli, Pennsylvania, in 2018.
The 2019 Rutherford Intercollegiate was the 43rd edition of the tournament. The Nittany Lions won the championship, with a team score of 855, winning the event on the final hole of the final round on a rainy Sunday.
The tournament became known as the Rutherford Intercollegiate in 1983 to honor R.B. “Pop” Rutherford Sr., the man known to the Nittany Lions as the “father of Penn State golf.”
Rutherford organized the first Penn State golf team in 1922 and coached it until 1949. R.B. Rutherford Jr. continued his father’s coaching tradition from 1950-1956 and furthered a legacy recalled each spring.
TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS Year Team Individual Champion Score
1975 Penn State Sherm Hostetter, Penn State 226 1976 Penn State Tom Amendola, Penn State 225 1977 Penn State Sherm Hostetter, Penn State 222 1978 Virginia Tech John Zack, Slippery Rock 216 1979 Penn State Gary Durbin, Penn State 216 1980 Virginia Tech John Banks, Virginia Tech 221 1981 California (Pa.) Scott Vietmeier, California (Pa.) 224 1982 Indiana (Pa.) Joe Boros, Clarion 221 1983 Indiana (Pa) John Yancy, Virginia Tech 150† Ben Witter, Indiana (Pa.) 143† 1984 Rutgers Joe Boros, Clarion 221 1985 St. John’s Jim Hagstrom, Slippery Rock 213 1986 Temple Tom Heffer, Gannon 143† Brian Stewart, Temple 143† 1987 Penn State Mark Treese, Penn State 147† 1988 Temple Peter Dannenbaum, Temple 146† 1989 St. John’s Tom Carter, Temple 218 1990 Penn State Mal Smith, St. John’s 145† 1991 Penn State Jon Veneziano, Hartford 143† 1991(Fall) Penn State Jason Tyska, Penn State 217 1994 Penn State Andy Achenbach, Penn State 219 1995 Penn State Mike Banzhoff, Penn State 152† Chris Gilmer, William & Mary** 152† 1997 Penn State Brad Kittsley, Penn State 215 1998 Penn State Charlie Cornette, Western Kentucky 142† 1999 Penn State Andrew McKay, St. John’s 208 2000 Penn State Matt Abbott, Penn State 212 2001 Penn State Andy Latowski, Penn State 212 2002 Penn State Jeff Turton, Penn State 206 2003 Penn State Robby Shaw, Western Kentucky 201 2004 Towson Greg Pieczynski, Penn State 208 2005 Penn State John Eades, Maryland 200 2006 Eastern Michigan Korey Mahoney, Eastern Michigan215 2007 Penn State Robert Rohanna, Penn State 217 2008 Penn State Robert Rohanna, Penn State 216 2008(Fall) Purdue Nakarinta Ratanakul, Purdue 211 2010 Penn State Kevin Foley, Penn State 211 2011 Penn State T.J. Howe, Penn State 216 2012 Bowling Green St. Brad Boyle, IUP 219 2013 Binghamton Tanapol Vattanapisit, Xavier** 216 JD Dornes, Penn State 216 2014 Minnesota Jose Mendez, Minnesota 207 2015 Penn State Jack Sedgewick, Binghamton 212 2016 Penn State Charles Huntzinger, Penn State 203 2017 Penn State Peyton White, Ohio 209 Georgetown 2018 Penn State Cole Miller, Penn State 206 2019 Penn State Drake Hull, UConn 208 † = 36 Hole Event | ** = Tiebreaker
TEAM RECORDS
Penn State Blue Course State College, Pa.
36 Holes
Team
Temple Penn State Penn State Army Penn State
Year
1986 1991 1987 1987 1998
Score
591 593 594 595 596
54 Holes (6,550 yards) Team Year Penn State 2005 Penn State 2003 Towson 2004 Penn State 2002 Maryland 2005 Penn State 2001
Score
843 852 859 859 861 863
54 Holes (par 852, 7,202 yards)
Team Year Score
Penn State 2018 844 Penn State 2019 855 West Virginia 2018 859 Minnesota 2014 860 Oakland 2018 867 Penn State 2017 868 Georgetown 2017 868
INDIVIDUAL RECORDS
36 Hole Records - Par 144
Individual School Year
Charlie Cornette Western Kentucky 1998 Brian Stewart Temple 1986 Tom Heffer Gannon 1986 Jon Veneziano Hartford 1991 Mal Galletta St. John’s 1991 Jason Smoak Wofford 1991 Chris Kyrle Pennsylvania 1998
Score
142 (-2) 143 (-1) 143 (-1) 143 (-1) 144 (E) 144 (E) 144 (E)
54 Hole Records - Par 216
Individual School Year Score
John Eades Maryland 2005 200 (-16) Robby Shaw Western Kentucky 2003 201 (-15) Jeff Turton Penn State 2002 206 (-10) Robert Rohanna Penn State 2006 207 (-9) Jim Fuller Penn State 2003 207 (-9) Greg Pieczynski Penn State 2004 208 (-8) Andrew McKay St. John’s 1999 208 (-8) Ted Neville Penn State 2005 207 (-7)
54 Hole Records - Par 213
Individual School
Charles Huntzinger Penn State Cole Miller Penn State Jose Mendez Minnesota Drake Hull UConn David Hicks William & Mary Peyton White Ohio Max Sear West Virginia Ryan Davis Penn State Lloyd Jefferson Go Seton Hall JD Hughes Penn State Chris Yeom Seton Hall Jack Sedgewick Binghamton Sam Madsen Georgetown Sam Madsen Georgetown
Year Score
2016 203 (-10) 2018 206 (-7) 2014 207 (-6) 2019 208 (-5) 2019 209 (-4) 2017 209 (-4) 2018 209 (-4) 2019 210 (-3) 2014 210 (-3) 2018 211 (-2) 2018 211 (-2) 2015 212 (-1) 2015 212 (-1) 2017 212 (-1)
1 NC State 2 Florida 3 Florida State 4 North Carolina 5 Wake Forest 6 South Carolina 7 East Tenn. State 8 Clemson
T9 Penn State
T9 Alabama T9 Tennessee 12 Virginia T13 Georgia T13 Auburn 15 LSU 16 Duke 17 VCU 302 308 309 307 310 305 310 309
310
304
292 293 300 298 299 303 294 296
GROUNDBREAKING PENN STATE GOLF
1996 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS Ninth in East Regional, Nittany Lions Appear in 1996 NCAA Finals
Following a regular season that included three tournament titles, the Nittany Lions peaked at the end of the 1996 spring term. After finishing second at the Eastern Championships and sixth at the Big Ten championships, Penn State surged at the NCAA East Regional, played on the Monster Course at the Concord Resort in Kiamesha Lake, N.Y. Facing the best teams in Eastern golf, the Nittany Lions came off the tee box with first-round ferocity, finishing in a five-way tie for seventh place after an opening round 310. Senior Adam Decker led with a two-over 74. In the second round, Penn State improved its team score by six strokes, but fell into a three-way tie for 15th — below the cut line that qualified the top 11 teams for the NCAA Finals. Decker fired a 71 to keep the Lions in contention. In the final round, the Nittany Lions ripped apart the Concord course, making shot after pivotal shot in a miraculous run that ended with a 296 — the third-best score of the day — to tie for ninth place and a berth in the NCAA Finals. Byron Clift, a junior, led the Lions with a final round 72. Decker shot a 74 to tie for second place on the individual leaderboard with a total 219, a monumental achievement for the senior, who came
Adam Decker Byron Clift Dirk Ayers
to the squad as a freshman walk-on. Seniors Dirk Ayers and Mike Banzhoff and sophomore Joey Chuasiriporn all finished with 75 for the final round and the three-round team total of 910 tied with Tennessee and Alabama.
The Lions’ berth in the Finals was not only monumental for Penn State, but for the entire Eastern region as the Lions became the first team in the relatively short history of both Districts I and II to reach the Finals.
For the first time since 1987, Penn State headed to the NCAA Finals, held at the challenging Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn. Penn State played well, but failed to make the team cut after two rounds. Ayers led Penn State individually, making the individual cut and finishing in a tie for 47th place overall after an opening round 71. Penn State placed 29th overall as a team, which at the time was the top finish of any Big Ten team at the Finals.
2004 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Penn State 15th at NCAA Finals The team registered a score of 300 in the NCAA Championships, for a tournament total of 289-291-290-300-1170. Eleven of the 15 squads carded their highest tournament score in the third round, as the Nittany Lions fell from a 13th place tie to their final position of 15th, by far the best NCAA finish in the program’s 82-year history. Greg Pieczynski, Jason Pannone, Mark Leon, Marco Poccia and Ted Neville led the Nittany Lions to the 2004 NCAA Finals.
Leon carded a 1-over 71 for a tournament total of 69-69-70-71-279 (-1). He finished the tournament in a sixth place tie overall and was one of just seven golfers to shoot par or better for the tournament.
In making the 15-team cut, Penn State defeated three of the nation’s top 15 teams in the process (No. 2 and defending national champion Clemson, No. 4 Arizona State and No. 10 TCU). It was the second week in a row the Nittany Lions defeated some of the nation’s top teams to close out a spectacular postseason. Penn State Second at East Regional The 2004 men’s golf team earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament after shocking the golf world with a second-place finish at the East Regional held in New Haven, Conn. The Nittany Lions fired a 10 over par 290 to hold fifth place after one round. Greg Pieczynski shot a one-over par 71 to help the Lions take a lead over five of the nation’s top 20 teams according to Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Mark Leon golfed brilliantly throughout the NCAA Finals as all facets of his game were at a high level. Making the cut was a terrific achievement and very exciting for us as a team. I’m very proud we backed up our second-place finish at the regionals with a strong showing in the finals. — HEAD COACH GREG NYE
The squad ended the second day of NCAA East Regional competition in first place among the 27-team field. The Lions shot five-over par for a total score of 575. Pieczynski led the Lions in their five-man field firing a 71 for the second consecutive day to sit two strokes over par. He held a tie for ninth place individually, while Ted Neville shot a 70 to finish the second round 3-over in a tie for 19th place.
Penn State completed one of the greatest performances in program history on the final day of the tournament by finishing in second place in the field. The Nittany Lions, who entered the regional as the No. 19 seed, beat seven Top 20 teams to earn their first berth in the NCAA Finals since 1996. Pieczynski finished in a tie for fourth place after finishing with a total score of 211 (+1). Mark Leon shot a 216 (73-71-72), Marco Poccia shot a 219 (73-73-73), Neville had a 220 (73-70-77) and Jason Pannone shot a 226 (77-76-73).
“It was just an enormous effort,” said Penn State head coach Greg Nye. “We had played well at the Big Tens and last weekend at the Maxwell and just continued to play even better. When the pressure was on, we got better. After finishing the first round in fifth place, we proved we were more than up to the task on Friday and again today. We beat some great programs head-to-head.”
1 California 279 289 287 279
2 UCLA 3 Arizona 4 Texas 5 Georgia Tech 289 292 288 289 283 281 286 285 275 283 289 289 293 292 286 286
T6 Florida 285 289 284 294
T6 Washington 8 Kentucky 9 BYU 10 Pepperdine 289 283 280 295 282 286 290 276 285 283 291 289 286 303 295 300
T11 Georgia 285 302 284 290
T11 Georgia State 292 280 297 292
13 Oklahoma State 292 289 289 294
14 Texas A&M 291 292 284 300
15 Penn State 289 291 290 399
Missed Cut: Purdue: 871, Southern California: 871, Clemson: 872, New Mexico: 876, TCU: 877, Auburn: 879, Arizona State: 879, Oklahoma: 879, Kent State: 881, Toledo: 884, SMU: 887, Wichita State: 887, Vanderbilt: 891, North Carolina: 892, Rhode Island: 912
Pos Team 1 2 3 Total
T3 Georgia 287 293 284 864 T3 Georgia Tech 291 288 285 864 5 Florida 286 290 290 866 6 Auburn 294 286 287 867 7 Georgia State 288 300 283 871 8 Rhode Island 292 289 296 871 9 Vanderbilt 299 291 290 880 10 North Carolina 294 283 305 882
2004 NCAA EAST REGIONALS
Nittany Lions (left to right) Cole Miller, assistant coach Mark Leon, Charles Huntzinger, Ryan Davis, JD Hughes, Alec Bard and head coach Greg Nye following Penn State’s top-five finish at the 2017 Washington Regional to advance to the NCAA Championship.
2017 NCAA WASHINGTON REGIONAL Miller Captures Regional’s Individual Title
Penn State finished fifth at the Washington Regional to secure its first appearance in the NCAA Championship since 2010 and fifth under the guidance of Nittany Lion head coach Greg Nye.
Junior Cole Miller recorded his third consecutive sub-par round, a 3-under 68, to win the individual championship at 7-under, his fifth individual title of the 2016-17 and becoming the second Nittany Lion to win an NCAA Regional.
Freshman Ryan Davis matched Miller’s last two rounds of 69 and 68 to finish tied for eighth at 1-under.
No. 1 USC finished first as the only team under par at minus-3 with Kent State (+3), Florida State (+10), Alabama (+10) and the Lions (+11) advancing to the national championship. We responded so well when Washington made a strong surge on the final nine, getting contributions from all five guys. That was fun to go at it that hard. I have said it before, but this team has consistently displayed a resilience and fight all year.” — HEAD COACH GREG NYE
2017 NCAA WASHINGTON REGIONAL
Aldarra Golf Club, Sammamish, Washington
Pos
1 2 3 4 5
Team
Southern California Kent State Florida State Alabama
Penn State
1
280 287 278 283 290
2
283 282 288 297 288
3
286 286 296 282 285
Total
849 (-3) 855 (+3) 862 (+10) 862 (+10)
863 (+11)
The Nittany Lions were the lowest-seeded squad in the 30- team NCAA field, and the No. 48 overall seed heading into NCAA Regionals. Penn State tied Lipscomb for 24th place to finish ahead of five teams seeded higher in the NCAA Championship. The Nittany Lions finished with a 27-over 891 over the three rounds.
After the third round, the field was cut from 30 teams to 15.
Freshman Ryan Davis led the Nittany Lions led the team with a three-round score of two-over 218 (76-71-71). Cole Miller had an eagle and three birdies en route to a two-over 72. He posted a three-round score of three-over 219 (74-71-74). Alec Bard had his best round of the Championship on the final day with a two-over 74 and finished at 230 (79-77-74).
