Binghamton University’s golf senior captain Zach Vinal finished with a record-setting final scoring average as the Bearcats concluded their regular season at the Rutherford Intercollegiate Invitational this weekend at Penn State.

Vinal finished with a 74.04 average, besting his own 74.08 mark set last year, as the Bearcats finished 11th out of 13 teams after rain disrupted play in Sunday’s final round.

Vinal tied for fifth out of 65 players in the field, shooting a 1-under-par 70 in round one. On hole three, a 470-yard par-4, he drained a 65-footer in the pouring rain to make birdie. Sophomore Mike Corbo tied for 52nd, freshman Jake Katz tied for 57th, senior Ryan Gabel tied for 63rd and junior Patrick Donovan placed 66th.

Vinal went the season without recording a round over 80 or a triple bogey.

“Throughout the year, I’ve just made sure to truly enjoy myself on the course regardless of how I’m playing and just let my rounds come to me without letting myself get angry,” he said. “So many players try to force good rounds, and when they go bad, they try to make birdies instead of pars and then wind up making more bogeys as a result, which is what I’ve learned not to do.”

Exceedingly heavy rains hampered play during Sunday’s final round, making it almost impossible to keep iron and wood shots in the fairway and on the green, while the rain subtracted distance from players’ tee shots. Additionally, the course was so long that on some holes players had to hit the ball at least 260 yards off the tee just to reach the beginning of the fairway.

“It was just a matter of surviving” Vinal said. “I was 5-over through 6 holes and just tried to hit the fairway and two putt every hole because I knew everyone else was going to play very poorly.”