Spitz Wins New England Golf Championship On Second Playoff Hole

April 15, 2006

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Rhode Island junior Ben Spitz defeated Binghamton's Jeff Wolniewicz on the second playoff hole to win his second individual title in three years at the New England Golf Championship at Triggs Memorial Golf Course. Binghamton won the team title, defeating the four-time defending champion Rams by seven strokes.

After firing a first-round even-par 72, Spitz carded a three-under par 69 to force the playoff. Wolniewicz led after the first round with a four-under par 68, but finished his second round at one-over par with a 73. The twosome started the playoff by notching birdies on the par-four first hole. Moving to the par-4 ninth, Wolniewicz's 20-foot birdie bid rolled just right of the hole before Spitz converted his birdie attempt from 10-feet away to clinch the victory. Spitz also won the 2004 Championship with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

Binghamton finished at four-over par, followed by URI (+11), Hartford (+20), Yale (+21) and Brown (+22) to round out the top-five in the field of 16 teams.

Rhody junior Jesse Larson finished the tournament in a tie for third place at one-under par, including a first-round 69, while junior Jason Pannone ended up tied for 17th at five-over par. Freshman Mark Stevens rebounded from a first-round 83 to shoot a second-round 73 to finish in a tie for 49th place at 12-over par. Junior Devon Quigley finished tied for 72nd at 21-over par.

Rhode Island won three-straight New England Championships from 1998-2000 and four more from 2002-05. The Rams were forced to miss the 2001 tournament due to a conflict with the Atlantic 10 Championship.