MANCHESTER, N.H. – Junior Aidan Davis shot a team-best 79 while tying for tenth individually as the Keene State College men's golf team opened their spring schedule at the New England College Invitational hosted by the Derryfield Country Club on Saturday afternoon.

Davis, a member of the all-conference team after his performance in the fall at the league championship meet, parred four of the first seven holes while shooting a 39 on the front nine and then had a pair of birdies on the back nine (No. 10, No. 17) and shot a 40.  KSC had seven birdies overall, including a team-high three by Sean Bonneau, who was even par through 11 holes and birdied No. 3, No. 10, and No. 13.  His score was impacted, however, by a seven on both No. 11 and No. 16 and left him with an 81 overall (+11).  KSC's best three finishers (Davis, Fecteau, and Bonneau) recorded 20 pars, with Sean McCaffrey adding six and Justin Prim four.  Thor Hansen, also a member of the men's ice hockey team, joined the Owls' contingent and had six pars including four on the back nine.
Keene State, playing without rookie standout Taylor Miller, finished with an overall score of 322 in the five-team field, placing fourth.  Suffolk University, the University of Southern Maine, and New England College all shot 305 to tie for first, with NEC winning the tiebreaker thanks to an 83 from their fifth golfer.  Suffolk took second with their fifth score of 92, while USM – the league champion in the fall by seven strokes over Eastern Connecticut State University and 25 strokes over third-place KSC – only had four scorers due to injury.

Individually, Owen Moore (Southern Maine) and Mike Gallagher (Suffolk) paced field with even par scores of 70, with Moore recording five birdies including three on the final five holes to offset five bogeys and parring every other hole.  Gallagher had three birdies, three bogeys, and parred the other 12 holes – he was one over on the front nine and one under on the back nine.  USM had an invitational-best 12 birdies as a team.

"It was great to get back on the course," said KSC head coach Jeff Timmer.  "As expected, our putting suffered from the late outdoor start but overall the boys did a god job staying focused all day.  McCaffrey's last career tournament at his home course Derryfield – he wishes he played a little better but he is the first player to play all four years.  He was on the first KSC team ever!"

The Owls are right back at it tomorrow, with both the men and women traveling to the University of Hartford Wampanoag Invitational.  The men tee of at 10:30 a.m. and the women at 11:30 a.m.