Pirates Play Princeton Invitational This Weekend

PRINCETON, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's golf team will return to action on Saturday for the first two of three rounds of action at the Princeton Invitational at Springdale Golf Club, April 12-13.

Tournament Details:
PRINCETON INVITATIONAL
Host: Princeton University
Location: Princeton, N.J.
Course: Springdale Golf Club
Course Vitals: Par-71, 6,456 yards
Dates: April 12-13, 2025

THE COURSE
Dating back to 1895, Springdale Golf Club is one of the oldest in New Jersey. Designed by Gerard Lambert and revised by William Flynn in 1926, the walkable course requires precision shot-making and has superior conditions and playability. The property, which was originally private farmland, was purchased by the Class of 1886 and gifted to Princeton University with the expectation of establishing one of the first courses in the region. The private club has a close relationship with the University, and counts many university professors, administrators and students among its members. With a fine and experienced PGA staff, the club hosts numerous tournaments, collegiate matches, clinics and golf outings every year.

THE FIELD
In addition to Seton Hall and host Princeton, the field features teams from Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Howard, Penn, Rider, Rutgers, Saint Joseph's, Temple and Yale. BIG EAST opponent Georgetown is also in the field.

THE SETON HALL LINEUP:

George Fricker, Senior
Patrick Kahanek, Senior
David Lally, Junior
Will Hennessee, Freshman
Eli Shah, Sophomore

LAST TIME OUT
The Seton Hall men's golf team faced off against Miami (Ohio) in the championship match of the Sweetens Cove Intercollegiate and the teams played to a tie and were branded co-champions on March 26

In the championship round, the teams tied 3-3. Eli Shah (Newtown Square, Pa.) and Patrick Kahanek (San Antonio, Texas) won all three of their matches this week to fuel the Pirates. It's Seton Hall's second victory of the 2024-25 year and its fifth top-3 finish in nine events.

Shah had three birdies and an eagle on the par-5, No. 12 hole to fuel a come-from-behind 2&1 victory. Kahanek never trailed and also registered a 2&1 win. Kahanek had a remarkable round with six birdies and an eagle on the par-2, No. 14 hole, all through only 17 holes. Finally, the Pirates secured a share of the title with George Fricker (Woodbridge, England) routing his opponent, 5&3. Fricker had five birdies, an eagle on the par-5, No. 3 hole, and nine pars with no blemishes in his 15 holes.

LAST TIME AT SPRINGDALE
Graduate student Wenliang Xie shot a 4-under-par, 67, in the final round to lift the Seton Hall men's golf team to a third-place finish at the Princeton Invitational in last year's event. Xie finished just one stroke behind the individual champions, Princeton's Riccardo Fantinelli and Howard's Everett Whitten Jr. For the tournament, Xie tied for third among 75 individual golfers with a 5-under-par, 71-70-67-208.

As a team, The Hall shot a 4-over-par, 288, in round three to finish third. For the tournament, the Pirates were 5-over-par with a 290-279-288-857. Host Princeton won the event at 9-under-par. Howard University finished second just one stroke ahead of The Hall. Georgetown, Seton Hall's lone BIG EAST competition, tied for ninth at 33-over-par.

THE FORMAT
The teams will play five golfers and count the four lowest scores per round.

THE SCHEDULE
The field will play 36 continuous holes on Saturday and one final round on Sunday. Play begins with a tee times starting at 7:45 am on Saturday. Sunday's final round will start with a shotgun at 10:00 a.m.

THE RESULTS:
Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament via Scoreboard.clippd.com. Complete results of each day's events will also be available following competition at SHUpirates.com.