By Kevin Carroll – STAFF WRITER

The Hofstra men’s golf team couldn’t keep up with the pack this past weekend, settling for a ninth-place finish in the nine-team CAA tournament at the St. James Plantation course in Southport, N.C.

To say it was a weekend to forget for the Pride would be a huge understatement. The Pride ended up shooting a 944 over three rounds of golf, 80 strokes over par for the tournament. This score left them 71 strokes behind the eventual champions from College of Charleston, who finished at an incredible +9 for the tournament.

The Pride’s first day on the course was a disaster, as the team shot a 344 in the first round, setting them far behind the rest of the pack.

The team regrouped heading into the weekend, cutting more than 40 strokes off their score for a second round 301. They managed to do even better on Sunday, shooting a 299.

But the damage had already been done, and it was too late for the Pride to make any serious noise in the tournament, slipping to the very bottom of the barrel, where they finished on Sunday.

Standing out for the Pride throughout the tournament was a pair of players from the back end of the rotation, David Won and Johnson Ko. Both players shot a 235 (+19) over three rounds, good enough for the two of them to slide into a tie for 37th place. David Mecca finished one stroke behind them in 40th place, and had the best round of any of the Hofstra golfers, shooting a 70 (-2) on Sunday, becoming the only member of the team to shoot below par.

Taking home the individual honors for the tournament was John Jonas, from the overall champion College of Charleston Cougars. Jonas shot 215 (-1) on the tournament, finishing two strokes ahead of his teammates, Josh Lorenzetti and Zach Munroe.

The Cougars will be headed to the NCAA Men’s Golf Tournament for the second straight year.