April 27, 2004

South Bend, Ind. - The St. John's men's golf team finishes fifth at the 2004 BIG EAST Men's Golf Championship, being played at the Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Indiana. St. John's shot a final-round 28-over par 308 and finished with a three-round total of 75-over par 915 (306-301-308), putting them 39 strokes behind BIG EAST tournament champion Notre Dame. Notre Dame prevented Virginia Tech's from getting its fourth title in as many years by shooting a final round 11-over par 291 to beat the Hokies by six strokes. Virginia Tech finished the tournament in second place at 42-over par 882, Georgetown finished in third place at 56-over par 896, rounding out the top five was Boston College at 59-over par 899 in fourth place, and St. John's at 75-over par 915 in fifth place.

Leading the way for the Red Storm in the final round of competition was sophomore Brian McArdle (Huntington, N.Y.) and freshman Joe Yastrub (Lake Grove, N.Y.), both shooting a six-over par 76 on Sunday. McArdle finished the tournament tied for eighth at 13-over par 223, while Yastrub finished tied for 28th. Winning the individual race was Ryan Stinnett from Virginia Tech who shot an outstanding two round total 2-under par 208, which is a new BIG EAST tournament record for 54 holes.

Sophomore John Stoltz (Middletown, N.Y.) ran into a little trouble on the front nine but battled back on the back nine to shoot a final round seven-over par 77 to finish in 13th place at 17-over par 227. Junior Ian Middleton (British Columbia, Canada) shot a 9-over par 79, finishing tied for 24th. Sophomore Tom Travalja (Huntington, N.Y.) finished 27th, carding a 27-over par 237 for the tournament.