NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. (April 10) –The Nichols College men's golf team rallied on the second day of the Hampton Inn Invitational hosted by UMass Dartmouth at the Allendale Country Club to finish tied for ninth place. The Bison were led by a 14th-place tie on the individual leaderboard from Dan Cafasso (Prospect, Conn.).

Nichols was 16th after the first day and combined for a 317 - the second-lowest team score on Sunday - to move into ninth place with Western New England College, scoring a two-day 677.

Cafasso cut nine strokes off his first day score to fire a 77 (+5) on Sunday in leading the Bison with a two-day 163. Josh Paulhus (Sutton, Mass.) took four strokes off his Saturday score to finish in a tie for 34th place, five back from Cafasso (168). Jon-Paul Chouinard (Natick, Mass.) wrapped up play in 62nd with a two-day 177. Brian Sears (North Grafton, Mass.) and Joe Gallagher (Hopewell Jct., N.Y.) had far superior final days at the tournament, each firing a 79 on Sunday. Sears took 20 strokes off his first-day total to finish tied for 66th at 178, while Gallagher cut his Saturday total by 23 to finish 70th with a 181.

Salem State held onto its Saturday lead among the 18-team field to claim the title with a two-day 637 (+61). Worcester State's Bob Bruso was the individual medalist after winning a four-way sudden death playoff on the first hole. Bruso finished with a two-day 155 (+11).


Nichols 360 317 677 +101 t-9th
Dan Cafasso 86 77 163 +19 t-14th
Josh Paulhus 86 82 168 +24 t-34th
Jon-Paul Chouinard 89 88 177 +33 t-62nd
Brian Sears 99 79 178 +34 t-66th
Joe Gallagher 102 79 181 +37 70th