On the weekend of October 25^th and 26^th, the second Atlantic regional took place at the Toftrees Resort in Bellefonte, PA. Toftrees played at a yardage of 6,756 yards with a rating of 73.4 and a slope of 139. The competing teams included Pittsburgh, who was in first place after the first regional, West Virginia who was in second, Youngstown State who was third, as well as Robert Morris, Penn State, and Duquesne.

The course, which had been soaked by rain all week, was still in great shape with the greens rolling at a 12 on both days. With these conditions, going low seemed to be something that would be difficult to do, especially on Saturday when winds were gusting upwards of 30 mph. With temperatures in the 40s, no one--including--the pro was expecting anyone to go low. The Pitt team was out to prove everyone wrong as they shot 393 with five rounds at 80 or better. Individual scores also were lower then expected with 8 scores being in the 70’s being led by the first tournament winner Mason Short from West Virginia with a great 75. The overall team standings were as followed: Pitt was at 393 followed by WVU at 417 and Penn State at 419; Duquesne had a much better showing after the first round coming in 4^th shooting 428 led by Max Marvolotis who shot 78. After the first round it looked very clear that Pitt was on its way to nationals at Barefoot Resort in Myrtle Beach.

The second round started and weather conditions looked as if the would be slightly better with the wind being down, but temperatures remained in the 40s. The course--still playing tough--held up to its reputation with scores being fairly higher then the first day. Penn State shot the best total team round on the second day with 398, but this only picked up one shot on overall winner Pitt who shot 399. Pitt who was led by overall winner Mark Bondi, also had a great weekend from Matt Milana, Stephen Kelly, Matt Puello, and Pete Hoffman. Penn State’s great second round was enough to vault them into second place with a final team score of 817, 19 shots ahead of third place finisher West Virginia. Robert Morris was able to pass Duquesne and finish in 4^th, Duquesne wound up 5^th followed by Youngstown State in 6^th.

The individuals were led by Mark Bondi who shot (78-76) 154 who had 4 birdies in the final round to beat his teammates Matt Milana and Stephen Kelly and Penn State's John Peterson by 4 shots. First round leader Mason Short struggled in the second round shooting an 85, but this was still enough to finish in 6^th place. After a first round that was plagued by slow play, the second round was played in a much more timely manner. Toftrees resort was a great host of the tournament and we hope that we will be able to come back and play again soon. Congratulations to the University of Pittsburgh who qualified for the national tournament at Barefoot Resort in Myrtle Beach, if they continue to play the way they have been they will be contenders for sure.