CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State University men's golf team is set to host its annual fall tournament this week, albeit at a new location.
The Vikings will host the Tom Tontimonia Invitational Monday, Oct. 8, and Tuesday, Oct. 9, at Lakewood Country Club in Westlake, Ohio. Lakewood CC is the new home course of the Viking program as of this year, and this marks the first time CSU has hosted an event at the course under head coach Steve Weir's tenure. It is the only course in Ohio designed by A.W. Tillinghast, one of the foremost designers of championship courses.
The 54-hole event will see teams play a continuous 36 holes Monday with the final 18 holes Tuesday. Shotgun starts will begin play both days at 9:15 a.m. Live scoring will be available through BirdieFire or by clicking the link at the top of this article.
Eleven schools will have teams playing in the event: Cleveland State, Dayton, Detroit Mercy, Evansville, Green Bay, Northern Kentucky, Oakland, Purdue Fort Wayne, Robert Morris, Wright State and Youngstown State. Kent State is sending individuals only while a number of teams will also have individuals present, as the current field stands at 75 players.
Cleveland State competed at the Firestone Invitational for the first time in program history this past week. The Vikings ended the event strong with a final-round 291 as three players shot 73 or better on the final 18 holes. Sophomore Zak Supelak was CSU's top finisher at the event, shooting a cumulative 218 (74-71-73), a new career low for 54 holes. Supelak is now averaging 74.2 strokes per round, the lowest among Vikings that have competed in all three events this season. All four Vikings that have played in every event this season have season averages within one stroke of one another.
The Vikings have had three different players as their low finisher in their three events this season. Senior Anton Krecic was the low-scorer to open the season at Turning stone while sophomore Zach Robbins was the low-scorer at Eastern Kentucky.
Cleveland State has annually hosted a fall tournament but the name has changed this year to recognize Tontimonia. Tontimonia was an athletics administrator for 38 years at Cleveland State and was the longtime sport oversight for the Viking golf programs. He retired from the University this past academic year, and the men's golf program elected to rename its annual fall tournament after him to recognize his ardent support for the sport at CSU.
Cleveland State will conclude the fall portion of its season next week at the Dayton Flyer Invitational.
