BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The LIU Brooklyn men's golf team will host the annual Lonnie Barton Invitational on Monday, March 7 and Tuesday, March 8. The tournament is scheduled to take place in Daytona Beach, Florida at LPGA International.
LAST TIME OUT
The Blackbirds are coming off of an eighth place finish to start their spring season. At the Gary Freeman Invitational, the men carded 923 over two days of play and tallied 25 birdies for all three rounds. Junior Rodrigo Munoz posted the best round so far this spring for LIU, shooting one-over par in the third round of competition to stand alone in 39th in a field of 94 golfers.
THE LONNIE BARTON INVITE
Last season, LIU placed first at the Lonnie Barton Invitational. The Blackbirds finished ahead of Saint Francis U. by six strokes with a total of 214 after shooting 314 on day two. Central Connecticut was third, followed by Sacred Heart, Fairfield, Bryant, Wagner, Siena, Sacred Heart and St. Francis Brooklyn. Kyle Maihi finished in a tie for ninth with teammates Jake Spearpoint and Stewart Gray, all carding two-day scores of 154.
ABOUT LONNIE BARTON
A passionate coach with a determined work ethic, Lonnie Barton took over the reins as coach of the men's squad in 1996 and turned the program into one of the NEC's most formidable. He coached seven all-conference players over eight years on the men's side, led the program to its first NEC title and NCAA appearance and under his direction the Blackbirds consistently excelled against some of the region's elite teams on a weekly basis.
That energy carried over to the women's program, which began in 2001 and finished second in the NEC all three years with Barton at the helm. Barton helped lead LIU to two tournament championships during that stretch and mentored eight All-NEC players.
At the age of 51, Barton lost his three-year bout with soft-tissue sarcoma, a form of juvenile cancer, in his lungs and pelvis. He had been undergoing chemotherapy almost two years and only missed one tournament prior to his final spring season.
UP NEXT
The men's golf team will take a few weeks off from competition before returning to spring action on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3 for the Towson Invitational held in Grasonville, Md.