Golf finishes 12th at Abarta Coca-Cola Invitational, Edholm stays consistent

By: Cassandra Ercoli, Sports reporter.

Despite the Griffs’ bottom-of-the-pack finish at the Abarta Coca-Cola Collegiate Invitational, senior Ryan Edholm continues to shine during the final stretch of his collegiate career, finishing his two rounds with an even-par score of 144 in a three-way tie for ninth place.

After a top-ten finish in his last outing at the Carpetbagger Classic, the Tonawanda, NY native was able to notch yet another top finish after hitting back-to-back birdies on his final two holes. The senior’s even-par effort on Monday marked his 12th even-par or better outing of the season. Edholm also leads the Griffs’ squad in career top-20 finishes with 12, including four during his 2024-2025 campaign.

After 18 holes of golf, the Golden Griffins found themselves near the bottom of the scoreboard, sitting in 14th out of the 16-team pool. Canisius’ score of 311 was led by Edholm’s even-par 72, and the seven-man squad sat just five strokes back of 10th place Lafayette. 

Leading the charge after a rainy and windy first round was MAAC rival Sacred Heart, who led the team portion of the tournament with a score of 293 (+5), just one stroke ahead of second-place Villanova. 

Day two of the tournament saw both freshman Chase Burgess and sophomore Jake Dantonio post strong second-round performances, with both golfers firing a score of 77 (+5). For Burgess, his second round score was a three-stroke improvement from his first outing, while Dantonio lowered his first round score by five strokes. On the other hand, sophomore Mikey Takacs fell 19 spots on Monday after a +5 (77) effort on Sunday. 

As a team, Canisius lowered their first round score to 304 in the second round, which lifted the Griffs two spots to finish in a 12th-place tie with Laval with a combined score of 615.

After 36 holes of gold, Millersville’s Timothy Peters, who is ranked 90th in all of Division II, and Merrimack’s Kai-Jun Huang shared the top spot shooting four-under par (140). Huang later claimed the top individual honor by defeating Peters in a playoff. Through one round of golf, Peters sat in fifth place with a score of 71 (-1) before recording Monday’s best score of 69 (-3) to jump to first place. Huang split his tournament with both rounds shooting two-under par (70). 

Sacred Heart held on to its day one lead to be crowned champions of the Abarta Coca-Cola Invitational after a one-under par team performance on Monday, finishing with a score of 580 (+4). Fairfield, another MAAC foe, claimed second place, shooting a combined 585 (+9) after two rounds of action.  

Golf finishes 12th at Abarta Coca-Cola Invitational, Edholm stays consistent

The Griffs now look ahead to the one-day New York/Pennsylvania Division I Quad Match hosted by Mercyhurst University, before heading south for the MAAC Championships in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.