The Iona University Golf team started the 2023 season in Long Island for the two-day Doc Gimmler event at St. John’s University. The 54-hole contest was hosted by St. John’s for the third year in a row and the sixth time in the past eight years.
Five Iona golfers participated on the first day of the Doc Gimmler. Sophomore Zach Baldwin, senior Parker Smith, and graduate student Fletcher Wunderlich, are the only returning members of head coach, Sean Burke’s, 2022 roster. The remaining two are freshman Sahir Balyan and graduate student Michael Sosik, both of whom are newcomers to the Maroon and Gold.
All five of the Gaels parred on the first hole.
Wunderlich performed particularly well, shooting under the par with a 68 (-2) in his first round and a 67 in the second, placing him top five halfway through the outing.
Sosik, meanwhile, was solid in his Iona debut. Starting with an even 70 in the opener, he capped things off with a 73 in the following round.
Baylan’s first appearance as a Gael began with a rough patch, but after bouncing back late in the first round, he carried that momentum into the second by shooting three strokes better.
Smith was the lone Gael to card an eagle on the day, doing so on the Par –5, 16th hole. This came after a spotty start where he shot a 74 in the first round. A two-stroke improvement in the second round balanced things out and led to his eagle.
At the end of the first day, Iona sat one stroke behind 9th place Fairleigh Dickinson University.
The second and final day of the 2023 Doc Gimmler was marked with tough weather conditions, resulting in a one-hour rain delay to kick off the morning.
The same five Gaels from the previous day trotted out on the course, with Wunderlich once again finishing as the team’s top performer. His eagle on the 16th hole helped lead him to a flat even par round.
Baldwin and Sosik each scored a 73 on their respective stat sheets.
With a result of +21 overall, Iona tied for 11th place with FDU. Columbia University grabbed first place after shooting an impressive 29-under over the event’s two days.
The Gaels’ next event is the 2023 annual Iona-UCD Challenger’s Cup, hosted by the University College Dublin in Ireland. The three-day competition will tee off on Tuesday, Sept.19.
