Thankfully, the hit or miss rain this weekend wasn’t enough to dampen the mood in Bloomfield, New Jersey, as the NYU men’s golf team celebrated its seniors and families at the NYU Spring Invitational. The Violets finished strongly after a shaky Saturday and finished the tournament in sixth place of an 11-team field.

Freshman Derrek Drozdyk was the low scorer for the Violets, finishing with a 14-over 156 in two rounds which was good enough to tie for 17th place. Things didn’t start out ideally for Drozdyk, who played unevenly on Saturday en route to a 10-over 81. However, with better playing conditions on Sunday, Drozdyk showed noticeable improvement, ending the day with an impressive four-over 75.

Fellow freshman Qizhi Wong was hot on Drozdyk’s heels, finishing one stroke behind Drozdyk with a total score of 157. Unlike Drozdyk, Wong’s 78 on Saturday was the better of his two scores. But his consistency paid off, and a Sunday 79 allowed him to place him in a tie for 21st. Faced with another week of crummy weather and even the occasional snowflake, Wong believes that with a little help from mother nature, the team could find its consistency.

“Our team rallied together and climbed up the ladder a little,” Wong said. “Again, if we remove high numbers, we will produce stellar results.”

Junior Eric Tarakjian was the third and final Violet to finish in the top 30, with an 18-over 160. Similar to Wong, Tarakjian broke 80 in the first round with a 79, but carded an 81 the next day.

Junior Matthew Love, senior Julius Oppenheimer and freshman Lucas Olberholtzer played within two shots of each other to round out the NYU field. Love was the best of the three, finishing in a tie for 40th with a score of 163. Oppenheimer played close behind, playing two rounds of 82 golf to finish a stroke behind Love. Finally Olberholtzer bounced back from a Saturday 86 to shoot a 79 on Sunday, good enough for a 165.

There are only two weeks left for the golf team as the men next travel to Saratoga Springs, New York next weekend to compete in the Tim Brown Invitational. Meanwhile, the women will return to action in Massachusetts after a week off for the Jack Leaman Invitational.

A version of this article appeared in the April 11 print edition. Email Michael Thompson at [email protected].