VESTAL, N.Y. – As the Binghamton men's golf team prepares to return to competition, the program announced its schedule for the fall of 2024 Wednesday.
 
The Bearcats will compete in five events over the course of two months. Among them will be the latest edition of the Matthews Auto Collegiate Golf Invitational, which Binghamton will host at The Links at Hiawatha Landing in Apalachin, N.Y., from Oct. 6-7. The Bearcats will also return to two other events that they competed in during the fall of 2023, while also taking part in two events that were not on their schedule the previous year.
 
The 2024-25 season begins when Binghamton competes at the Alex Lagowitz Memorial from Aug. 31 - Sept. 1. Colgate will host the competition at Seven Oaks Golf Club in Hamilton, N.Y. This will mark the third year in a row that the Bearcats will compete in this tournament. The prior season, Colgate finished second at the 2024 Patriot League Championship.
 
Binghamton will then travel to Rockville, Md., to compete in the Howard Invitational from Sept. 9-10 at Manor Country Club. This is the first time that the Bearcats are competing in this event. Howard, who is hosting the competition, qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2024 after winning the NEC Championship for the first time in program history back in April.
 
A few weeks later, the Bearcats return to Maryland to compete in the Navy Invitational, also known as The Goat, at the Naval Academy Golf Club in Annapolis from Sept. 21-22. This is the first time that Binghamton will play at this course since the Navy Spring Invitational in 2019, where the team finished second. That year, Ryan Rodriguez became one of two Binghamton golfers to earn medalist honors at that event after he posted a score of 71-74 = 145/3-over par. The other instance came in 2009, when Trevor Fiedler won the spring invitational at 71-71 = 142/even par.
 
After the calendar turns to October, Binghamton will host the Matthews Auto Collegiate Golf Invitational. The Bearcats' best finishes as a team and for an individual during the 2023-24 season came at this event, when they tied for second at 290-283 = 573/3-under par. Their 36-hole total is the third-lowest in program history, while their score of 283/5-under par in the final round is tied for fourth-lowest. Brandon Conner also finished tied for second on the individual leaderboard after shooting 67-70 = 137/7-under par. That score set the program record for the lowest individual score through 36 holes relative to par, while his score of 67/5-under par in the first round is tied for the second-lowest score relative to par in Binghamton history.
 
To close out the first half of its season, Binghamton will take part in the Lehigh Invitational from Oct. 19-20 at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa. This is also the third year in a row that the Bearcats will compete in this event. Binghamton won the Lehigh Invitational in 1995, where both John Binkley and Mark Merrill tied for medalist honors.
 
"I am looking forward to our 2024 fall schedule," said Binghamton Head Golf Coach Bernie Herceg. "It is always nice to start at Colgate's tournament. Howard's tournament will have some good teams competing and it's a new tournament for us. We have not competed at Navy's tournament in a while, so it will be exciting to return to that event and compete on their recently-renovated course. Our home tournament has a great field, so we are going to have strong competition. Lehigh's tournament is a great event, and will be an excellent way to wrap up the fall season."
 
Binghamton will field an experienced roster in 2024-25, with seven of its eight golfers from the prior season returning to the team. Joining Conner are fellow juniors Harrison Blech and Sean Shen, seniors Shawn Colella, Tynan Jones, and Ryan Millevoi and sophomore Jackson Vesper. The Bearcats will also add one newcomer in freshman Lucas Brittain, who hails from London, England.