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VanArragon Finishes as Runner-up, Men’s Golf Continues Strong Start

VanArragon Finishes as Runner-up, Men’s Golf Continues Strong Start

Junior Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) polished off another top-two finish on Tuesday by closing out the Zach Johnson Invitational at five strokes under par over 54 holes. VanArragon’s efforts helped the Valparaiso University men’s golf team finish third in a 15-team field at the event, which was hosted by Drake at Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa.

How It Happened

  • VanArragon was a stroke over par on the par-71, 6898-yard course in the third and final round on Tuesday. That closed out a 54-hole score of 208 (68-67-72) to finish tied for second in the 84-player field. VanArragon tied with Drake’s Lucas Sherf for runner-up honors, while Southern Illinois’ Matthis Besard took medalist by five strokes at 203 (-10).
  • Freshman Anthony Delisanti (Saborn, N.Y. / Niagara Wheatfield) had the team’s top Round-3 score with a 70 (-1) to finish the tournament at 214 (+1). He narrowly missed a top-10 finish, placing tied for 11th.
  • Sophomore Mason Bonn (Sherwood, Ore. / Sherwood) carded even par on Tuesday to finish the 54 holes at 218 (+5), which put him at t-20 for the event.
  • As a team, Valpo replicated its Round-2 score with another 286 on Tuesday. The Beacons finished the week at 857 (+5), four strokes behind a first-place tie between Drake and North Dakota State.

Inside the Round

  • VanArragon’s 208 represented the best 54-hole tournament score in his collegiate career. He tied with Peter Webb for the third-best tournament score in program history and became just the third Valpo golfer in the program’s modern era to card 208 or better in a tournament, joining Webb (x2) and Nick Seitz. VanArragon’s performance this week was the best tournament score by a Valpo individual since April 2017.
  • By going five strokes under par for the event, VanArragon also tied for fourth in program history in 54-hole score in relation to par.
  • VanArragon finished as the tournament runner-up for the second consecutive event. This is the sixth time in his collegiate career that the Valpo junior finished as either the individual medalist or tournament runner-up.
  • Valpo’s 54-hole team score of 857 marked the third-best tournament team score in program history, and one of the two tournaments ahead of this one is last week’s Valpo Fall Invitational. Prior to last week, Valpo had gone under 858 just once in program history, and now the Beacons have done so in consecutive tournaments.
  • At five strokes over par for the event, Valpo also tied for fourth in program history in a 54-hole tournament low in relation to par.
  • Valpo finished the tournament with a 3.05 average on par-3 holes while producing a 4.16 average on Par 4s. The Beacons ranked first and second in Par-3 and Par-4 scoring, respectively.
  • The team totaled 46 birdies, a dozen of which came courtesy of VanArragon.

Up Next

The team will compete in the Spirit Hollow Fall Shootout on Wednesday, Oct. 6 in Burlington, Iowa.