Aug. 31, 2010

Junior Andrew Fecteau (Newbury, Mass.) broke open a close tournament with a sterling final round of 67 to capture the UMass Lowell Open Tryout Aug. 25-27 at Meadow Creek Golf Club.

Fecteau was among 19 players vying for seven spots on the 2010-11 golf team.

Fecteau, who carded rounds of 81 and 80 entering Friday’s final round, won by a convincing 18 strokes with a 228 over freshman Justin Barbera (Milton, Mass.), who took home runner-up honors with rounds of 85-83-78 for a 246.

Freshman Steve Aghiarian (Milton, Mass.) placed third with an 81-84-94—249 while junior Beau Theriault (Salem, Mass.) took fifth with an 83-81-87—250. Freshman Eric Karpinski (Dracut, MA), a member of the 2008-09 team, fired an 87-80-88—255 to place sixth and was followed by sophomore Mike Szamrej (Westford, Mass.) with an 89-83-84—256 and freshman Takeaki Igarashi (Sacramento, Calif.) who shot a 90-82-86—258 who completed the active roster.

Additionally, freshman Eric Farr (Melrose, Mass.) and freshman Chris Keating (Woburn, Mass.) shared eighth place with a 259. Farr scored rounds of 86-90-83 – including a hole-in-one on the par 3, 140-yard fourth hole on Friday – while Keating shot 91-80-88. Farr and Keating will serve as alternates for the season.

The aforementioned will join last year’s returning corps of seniors Patrick Bean (Fitchburg, Mass.), Thomas Ayala (East Taunton, Mass.) and Anthony Ullo (Leominster, Mass.); junior Brandon Robinson (Hampstead, N.H.) and sophomore Travis Kellegrew (Chelmsford, Mass.).

The River Hawks open the season Saturday, Sept. 11 at the Rutgers Invitational. Other key tournaments include the Northeast-10 Conference Championship Oct. 2-3 and the New England Intercollegiate Golf Association (NEIGA) Championship Oct. 17-19.