Men's Golf to Host Conference Championship

The University of Hartford will host the America Sky Championship this spring at the Lake of Isles Golf Course in Ledyard, Conn.

Men’s golf coach Pete Stankevich announced a five-tournament schedule for the spring season, highlighted by the America Sky Conference Championship hosted by the University of Hartford at the prestigious Lake of Isles Golf Course in Ledyard, Conn.

The Hawks will open up the spring schedule with a trip to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate, one of three new tournaments for the men’s golf team this spring. The opening tournament is scheduled for Feb. 20-21 at Wexford Plantation, a par 72, 6,828 yard course.

Following nearly a month between events, the Hawks will next travel to Oregon to compete in the Bandon Dunes Championship, which is in its third year of competition. The event (March 16-18) is scheduled to take place on the Bandon Trails course at the Bandon Dunes Resort in Bandon, Ore.

After returning from the west coast, the Hawks will return to action at the Towson Invitational hosted by the Tigers at the Prospect Bay Country Club in Grasonville, Md. The three-day event is scheduled for March 30-April 1.

The final tune-up for Hartford before hosting the league championship will be the New England Division I Championships, the third-straight year the Hawks will compete in the annual event. The two-day championship will be held at the Newport National Golf Course in Middletown, R.I., on April 6-7. Last season, the Hawks finished seventh out of 12 teams with a pair of top-10 finishes from Matt Smith (seventh) and Patrick Ross (ninth).

The final regular season event will be the America Sky Championship, which will take place April 29-May 1. The Hawks will welcome 12 teams to the Nutmeg State for the 54-hole event. Lake of Isles is a Rees Jones designed course that features a North and South Course over 900 acres owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Ledyard, Conn. The 12 teams competing in the America Sky Championship are Binghamton, North Dakota, Chicago State, Sacramento State, CSU Bakersfield, Seattle, Hartford, Texas-Pan America, Houston Baptist, Northern Colorado, Utah Valley and Weber State.

The Hawks closed out a six-tournament fall schedule finishing in the top 10 in all but one event. The top finish came at the annual Hartford Hawks Invitational held at Bull’s Bridge Golf Course in South Kent, Conn. The Hawks finished that event fourth overall. Individually, two players completed top-five finishes during the fall season, with Smith finishing tied for fourth at the Battle at the Tetons with a 54-hole 214 and Wally Gonzalez posting the lowest finish of the fall at third place in the Connecticut Cup with a three-round 216. Smith carded the lowest 18-hole round for Hartford with a 66 in the opening round of the Battle at the Tetons.