SYRACUSE, N.Y. – For the second time in less than a year, a Binghamton golfer has made a hole-in-one. This time, it was sophomore Beckham Chiew, who aced the 15th hole during the opening round of the Central New York Challenge Cup Sunday at Bellevue Country Club.
 
Chiew's ace was part of a positive day for the Bearcats, who ended the opening round of the inaugural tri-match against Colgate and Le Moyne with the lowest team score. Binghamton shot 308/24-over par, three strokes ahead of Le Moyne. Enzo Allain also leads the field of 27 golfers for Binghamton, as the freshman shot 72/1-over par. Chiew is tied for second at 76/5-over par.
 
Chiew's hole-in-one, the first of his competitive career, is only the fourth Binghamton has recorded in its Division I era dating back to 2001. Just five months prior on April 24 during the opening round of the NEC Men's Golf Championship, Harrison Blech aced the 17th hole at Turf Valley Resort's Original Course.
 
"I told [Head] Coach [Bernie] Herceg that if I wanted to win my match, I needed to make something happen. It was a 155-yard pitching wedge, and it looked good in the air, landed about four feet long, then spun back into the hole. It was awesome to get it done like that, and it came at a good time. I am happy I was able to help the team out today and get some points on the board for us."
 
Before Blech, the only other two hole-in-ones to be made by a Binghamton golfer in competition during the Bearcats' Division I era were by Aaron Ungvarsky at the 2007 America East Men's Golf Championships and Justin Lane at the 2021 Big Sky Men's Golf Championship. Ungvarsky made his ace on the sixth hole at The Links at Hiawatha Landing en route to taking home medalist honors. Lane, meanwhile, made a hole-in-one on the 17th hole of Boulder City Club during the second round of the conference tournament.
 
Allain, who is in Binghamton's starting lineup, continues to have a strong start to his Binghamton career. After finishing tied for 25th in each of his first two collegiate events to start the season, Allain made four birdies to put himself at the front of the pack.
 
Fellow freshman Tien Do is tied for fifth at 77/6-over par. Senior Jackson Vesper and sophomore Alex Patel, meanwhile, are tied for 10^th at 78/7-over par. Jack Tebeau is two strokes behind those two at 80/9-over par, putting himself in a tie for 15th. Lucas Brittain and Jake Doherty and Patrick Smith are each tied for 19th at 81/10-over par.
 
All three teams make their way to the Southern Tier, where they will complete the final round of the tri-match on Monday at En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott, N.Y. The round tees off at 10:30 a.m.
 
Matthews Auto is the presenting sponsor of Bearcats Golf.