KINGSTON, N.Y. — Senior Gus Lascola and junior Benjamin Choe continued their strong play for the men's golf team, which wrapped up the fall portion of its schedule with a fifth-place finish at the Columbia Autumn Invitational on Monday at Wiltwyck.
 
Choe recorded consecutive rounds under par to finish third individually with scores of 71-67—138, adding up to 6-under par over the two rounds on the par-72 Robert Trent Jones '30 design. That proved to be two strokes back of Harvard's Kevin Sze for medalist honors, and one behind the Crimson's Brian Ma.
 
Lascola broke 70 in one of his tournament rounds for a second straight week, finishing in a tie for ninth while competing individually. It was his second straight tournament finishing in the top 10.
 
Harvard ran away with the team title with a score of 18-under-par 558, a full 22 strokes clear of second-place Dartmouth (580). Host Columbia (581) held a tie for the lead after the opening round, but fell to a final placement of third after a rocky afternoon round. Lehigh (583) was the other team to finish ahead of Cornell.
 
With the entirety of the tournament taking place in one day, the field used a shotgun start. Choe was 1-over after his first four holes before going bogeyless on his next 13 holes among three birdies to get into red numbers. It was virtually the same start to his second round – 1-over after five holes – before an even more torrid finish. Choe answered consecutive bogeys on 10 and 11 with birdies on 12 and 13. He then posted birdies on the 17th and first holes before eagling the second. Three more pars closed the round at 67, which at 5-under par would have tied the program tournament-round record if not for junior Samuel King's 6-under-par 66 one week ago at Binghamton's tournament.
 
King was the Big Red scoring team's second-best finisher this week, tying for 18th at 72-74—146. Junior Josh Lundmark (75-73—148) was two strokes behind, tied for 26th. Both King and Lundmark had eagles on the day.
 
Making a return to the team's scoring rotation, junior Martin Gutierrez had three birdies amidst his counting opening-round 73. Senior Noah Schwartz (75-80—155) also had three birdies in his morning round en route to a tie for 42nd overall.
 
Though not part of the team scoring for a second straight week, Lascola had another stellar outing. Though birdie-less in his opening round, he mixed in 14 pars to post a 76 before catching fire on the second loop. With an eagle on the second hole and birdies over three of the next five holes, Lascola stood at 4-under par through eight holes in the afternoon round. He countered a pair of bogeys with back-to-back birdies on the back nine to post a collegiate career-best round of 68.
 
Cornell wrapped its fall season finishing sixth or better in four of its five tournaments, all of which featured anywhere between 12 and 15 teams. Choe leads the team with a stroke average of 72.67 (1.3-over par), and Lundmark has the best average individual finish so far at 19th.