ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico - Competing in the tournament for the second year in a row, the University of San Francisco men's golf team continued their strong start to the year as the Dons finished fourth overall at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate at The Championships Course at UNM to begin the week.
 
Notably, reigning WCC Newcomer of the Year Jakob Melin tallied his second straight top five finish to start 2023-24 as the sophomore tied for fourth overall individually.
 
TOURNAMENT RESULTS:

• Knocking out 36 holes on Monday once again, Melin was just two strokes off the lead after day one after firing rounds of 72 and 65 to sit at 7-under.
• Playing in just his second career collegiate tournament, freshman Svante Palmgren sat inside the top 20 as he tallied rounds of 68 and 74 on day one to sit at 2-under, which tied for 19^th heading into Tuesday. Similarly, Renato Naula logged rounds of 71 and 71 to open the tournament as he tied Palmgren at 2-under to tie for 19^thoverall.
• Closing out the action, Melin stayed steady on Tuesday as he shot a 70 (-2) in his final round to finish at 9-under-207 (72, 65, 70). Overall, this performance kept him in the top five as he tied for fourth on the final individual leaderboard.
• Climbing three spots, Naula jumped into a tie for 16^th place as he shot another 71 (-1) to wrap up play to finish at 3-under-213 (71, 71, 71).
• Rounding out the lineup, Ben Partridge tied for 31^st overall as he finished at even-par (71, 71, 73) following his three rounds. For Palmgren, the first year Don tied for 53^rd after three rounds as he finished 4-over-220 (68, 74, 68). In the five spot, Harry Brown tied for 78th after finishing 10-over-226 (78, 72, 76).
• Notably, Melin finished third in the field with 16 total birdies across his three rounds while Naula had the second-most for the Dons with 12 birdies. Additionally, Melin also tied for second in Par 5 scoring (-9) while also tying for third in Par 4 scoring (-4). 

CATCHING UP WITH COACH KENNEDY:
"We had a very good week on a demanding golf course with a good field. We were led by Jakob who had an unbelievable week yet again. But collectively as a group, we really pushed through some tough spots to get a high quality result out of the week. Now we have a quick turnaround to Colorado where we go expecting to win."
 
UP NEXT:
Continuing their stretch of four tournaments in four weeks, San Francisco will travel to Erie, Colo. to kick off the month of October as the Dons will compete in the Mark Simpson Intercollegiate at Colorado National Golf Club on Monday, Oct. 2 and Tuesday, Oct. 3.
 
MERCHANDISE:
Want to dress like the Dons? Rep USF today by visiting the all-new USF Dons online store at www.usfdons.com/shop.
 
FOLLOW US:
For updates and more information on the University of San Francisco women's golf program, follow the Dons @USFDonsMensGolf on Twitter, @USFDonsGolf on Instagram and @USFDonsMensGolf on Facebook.
 
SPONSOR US:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge our department sponsor – San Francisco Toyota - for their continued support of USF Athletics. Interested in sponsoring the Dons? Please contact Frank Allocco, the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director of External Relations, at fallocco@usfca.edu or at (415) 422-4561.