WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- Junior Nick Alexander and sophomore Jacob Foti each finished under par in the final round to help the Christopher Newport men's golf team close out a ninth-place finish at the Sam Snead Collegiate on Tuesday afternoon. The Captains (+44) were led by a sixth place finish by Foti (+3) after the second-year star recorded a four-under 67 in the third round. 

Foti fired the low score for the season with a career-low 67. Getting off to a blazing start, Foti scored par on his first hole before dropping in five straight birdies on holes 11-15. He started on No. 10 and finished the back nine in just 30 strokes, making the turn at five-under par. He stretched it to six-under with a birdie on the 498-yard par five 2nd hole and finished out the round with ten pars and six birdies. 

The single-round total of 67 is a top-ten performance in program history and the best score by a Captain since Alex Price fired a 66 at the O'Briant-Jensen Memorial on October 25, 2021. It also tied for the fourth-best single round performance on a Par 71 track, matching Robb Kinder's four-under effort at the O'Briant-Jensen on October 31, 2022. The third round was a significant effort particularly for a second-year player as it stands as the third lowest round in program history by a sophomore, bested only by David Rabil with a 64 in the Golfweek Invitational (Oct 10, 2016) and a 66 at the VSGA (Oct 18, 2016). 

Meanwhile, Alexander put together an outstanding final round of his own and finished with a one-under 70 on Tuesday. It marked his seventh round under par this season which is the most by a CNU player since 2022-23. The junior from Leesburg, Va. caught fire at the end of the day, knocking in three birdies over his last five holes. He finished the day with five birdies, opening the day with two in his first three, and closed out the round with a 34 on the front and 36 on the back nine. 

As a team, the Captains climbed five spots on the leaderboard after the last 18 holes of play. CNU finished at six-over with a 290 in the third round and wrapped up the 54-hole tournament with an 896 (297-309-290). That was just 11 strokes behind Lynchburg for a spot in the top-five while Carnegie Mellon hoisted the team trophy with a two-over effort after three rounds. 

Foti wrapped up the tournament with a 216 (75-74-67) and tied for sixth. Alexander tied for 28th with a 222 (71-81-70) and vaulted 23 spots on the individual leaderboard on day two. Adding a 66th place finish for the Captains was Patrick O'Rourke with a 229 (74-78-77) and Fischer Leggitt was just four strokes behind him with a 233 (77-80-76). Rookie Nathan Smith registered a highlight on day two with an eagle on the 498-yard par five 2nd hole and wrapped up his 54-hole tournament with a 244 (87-77-80). It was one of just 12 eagles carded on the challenging Golden Horseshoe GC all week. 

In the 108-player field, Foti finished third overall in Par 4 scoring with an Even 4.0 average for the tournament. He also tied for third with 37 total pars in the three-round event. Alexander led all Captains with ten birdies carded while Foti added nine. 

CNU closes out the regular season with the Sam Snead Collegiate performance. The NCAA Division III National Championship selections will be announced on Monday, May 4 at 4:00 p.m. on NCAA.com. The tournament field includes 34 automatic qualifiers and nine at-large selections along with 10 individuals not on one of those teams selected to participate in the championships.