Men's Golf at Williams Invitational 
Saturday, September 20 | 8 a.m.
Sunday, September 21 | 9 a.m. 
Taconic Golf Club | Williamstown, Mass. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The Babson men's golf team returns to the Williams Invitational at Taconic Golf Club for the ninth time since 2016. 
•    After years as a 36-hole event featuring 18 holes on Saturday and 18 on Sunday, this year's tournament will be decided over 54 holes with the Beavers and their competitors playing 36 holes on Saturday and 18 on Sunday. 

2024 WILLIAMS INVITATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
•    Evan Eichenlaub posted rounds of 72-74 to tie for second place with a 36-hole total of 3-over 145 as Babson finished in a tie for seventh place on September 21-22 at Taconic Golf Club. 
•    Junior Jack Berry carded a 4-over 75 in the final round to tie for 46th position at 14-over 156, while sophomore Howie Poon closed with a 5-over 76 to finish in a tie for 60th place at 16-over 158. 
•    The Beavers shot 307-303 and posted a team score of 610, which was their highest at the Williams Invitational since 2019. 

ABOUT THE BEAVERS
•    Babson opened the season by coming in second at Middlebury's Duke Nelson Invitational last weekend. 
•    Berry shot 68-70 to earn medalist honors with a 36-hole total of 4-under 138, Poon tied for 15th place at 7-over 149 and senior Colin Fowler shot 76-74 to grab a share of 19th position at 8-over 150 for the Beavers, who posted rounds of 296-292 to finish just two strokes behind Amherst. 
•    Sophomore Aman Vantipalli closed with a 2-over 73 and earned a share of 24th place at 9-over 151, while classmate Chad Tordone shot 80-78 in his first collegiate tournament and finished in a tie for 65th position. 
•    Vantipalli, who earned a GCAA All-America honorable mention and was named to the Division III All-Freshman team last spring, finished his rookie campaign with a 73.60 stroke average, Fowler posted a 74.60 average in four events last spring, and Berry (75.06) finished under par three times while recording three top-20 finishes a season ago. 

OPENING STATEMENT
•    Berry, who ran away with a six-shot victory at Middlebury, became the first Babson player to earn medalist honors at any tournament since Nicholas Gianelos '22 won the NEIGA Championship back in October 2021. 
•    Berry has finished under par in three of his last six rounds going back to last April and his first round 68 at the Duke Nelson Invitational was one shot off the best score of his career, a 5-under 67 in the second round of the Cochran Collegiate in Memphis back on April 14. 
•    Berry joined Lane Bohman '22 (2017), Jared Myers '01 (1998) and Steve Eklund '03 (2001) as Babson players to finish atop the leaderboard at the Duke Nelson Invitational, and his winning total of 4-under 138 was two shots better than Bohman's 2-under 140 back in 2017.

ROOKIE YEAR TO REMEMBER
•    In addition to leading the team with five rounds under par during the 2024-25 campaign, Vantipalli's 73.80 stroke average last season was the lowest by a Babson first-year in program history.
•    Vantipalli also was the Beavers first rookie to garner All-America honorable mention honors thanks to recording six top-20 finishes in eight starts. 

TACONIC TRENDS
•    The Beavers had recorded seven consecutive top-five finishes at the Williams Invitational between 2016-23 prior to finishing in a tie for seventh place last September. 
•    Babson has finished below 300 in six of its last eight rounds at Taconic GC and owns a 293.5 team scoring average in eight starts going back to the 2021 first round. 
•    The winning score at the Williams Invitational has been 590 or better in seven consecutive tournaments going back to 2017. The low 36-hole total during this stretch belongs to Babson, which finished at 8-under 560 back in 2021. 

ABOUT THE FIELD
•    The 15-team Williams Invitational field features eight teams that placed among the top 10 at last weekend's Duke Nelson Invitational including Amherst, third-place Middlebury and Trinity and Skidmore, which came in fourth and fifth, respectively. 
•    Defending champion Gustavus Adolphus is not returning to Taconic but the teams that finished second through sixth and ahead of the Beavers (Middlebury, Bowdoin, Tufts, Amherst, Rensselaer) will all be teeing it up.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers, who are playing the first of three 54-hole tournaments this fall, own a team scoring average of 890.00 in 54-hole events over the last two seasons. 
•    Babson's lowest score over this stretch was a 16-over 868 at the Golfweek Fall Preview in Miramar Beach, Fla., on October 13-15, 2024, and its highest total was a 49-over 913 at the Cochran Collegiate last April. 

UP NEXT
•    The Beavers will travel south to compete in the West Pines Collegiate outside of Atlanta on October 6-7.