Men’s Golf Wins Sixth AMCC Championship; Ferguson Takes Individual Title
BUTLER, Pa. – After holding a six-shot lead going into the second and final round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships at Butler Country Club, the Penn State Altoona men's golf team widened the gap on Tuesday to win its sixth AMCC championship in program history by a comfortable margin.
Penn State Altoona shot 321 as a team in Tuesday's round, a three-shot improvement over the previous day's score to finish with a two-day team score of 645, besting second place Penn State Behrend by 22 strokes. The championship win is the program's first since its victory in 2010, and it is the first Penn State Altoona team of any sport to win an AMCC title since 2017 men's volleyball.
"It's been a long 11 years since our last AMCC championship, and this group is proud to regain a gold trophy for our college," said Penn State Altoona head coach Tom Koehle. "It was a tough two days, but we were able to play solid when we needed to and build a comfortable lead down the stretch."
With its championship win, Penn State Altoona men's golf earns the AMCC's automatic bid to compete in the NCAA Division III Golf Championship. The Lions will travel to Mission Inn Resort and Club at Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. to compete in the event on May 10-13.
"We look forward to representing Penn State Altoona and the AMCC at the NCAA Championship," said Koehle. "It will be a great experience, and we have a spring season to prepare for the next step."
Andrew Ferguson (Altoona, PA/Tyrone) was the AMCC's individual champion, shooting 77 on Tuesday to finish with a combined score of 154 that placed him first out of 40 golfers in the tournament.
"Andrew is a relentless worker, and it paid off the last two days," Koehle stated. "He was disappointed in his performance in the spring AMCC championship, and I'm sure he sees this as further validation that he is one of the best players in the AMCC and the region."
Trey Heffelfinger (Mount Union, PA/Mount Union) shot 78 in Tuesday's round to finish with a combined score of 160, finishing in third place individually. Iain Murphy-Herndon (Oldsmar, FL/Saddlebrook Prep) and Logan Divald (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) tied for fifth place with two-day scores of 168, as Murphy-Herndon shot 84 on Tuesday and Divald carded an 87. Joey Toth (South Park, PA/South Park) shot 82 on Tuesday to combine for a two-day score of 172 to tie for 12th place.
Ferguson, Heffelfinger, Murphy-Herndon, and Divald each took AMCC All-Tournament status for finishing among the top five individuals on the leaderboard.
"To place four players on the All-Tournament team is a great accomplishment and speaks to the success we have had on the recruiting trail," said Koehle. "We target tournament-experienced players, and this group has that experience. It was a brutal test at Butler, and we were able to play well enough to earn a win."
Penn State Altoona men's golf is now done for the fall but will resume action in the spring semester, as it prepares to compete in the NCAA Division III Championship.
