UNIVERSITY PARK – The Penn State men’s golf team concludes their regular season by hosting the 49th-annual Rutherford Invitational at the Par-71, 7,130-yard Penn State Blue Course this weekend.

The tournament became known as the Rutherford Intercollegiate in 1983 to honor R.B. “Pop” Rutherford Sr., the man known to the Nittany Lions as the “father of Penn State golf.” Rutherford organized the first Penn State golf team in 1922 and coached it until 1949. R.B. Rutherford Jr. continued his father’s coaching tradition from 1950-1956 and furthered a legacy recalled each spring.

The Nittany Lions have won 31 of the previous 48 events including nine of the last 11 dating back to 2015 with the Delaware Blue Hens snapping a string of six consecutive Penn State victories last season.

Penn State has also seen 19 individuals medaling atop the leaderboard with the last being James Allen in 2022 as he won the tie-breaker after tying with teammate Patrick Sheehan at 3-under, 210.

SETTING THE STAGE

This week’s tournament field is compiled of 13 teams with the Nittany Lions as the lone representation from the Big Ten.

The host Nittany Lions are joined by Yale, Loyola Chicago, Binghamton, Long Island, Towson, St. John’s, URI, George Mason, UConn, St. Thomas, Bucknell and the defending champion University of Delaware to round out the field.

Saturday will feature 36 continuous holes with tee times off both hole No. 1 and No. 10 between 7:30 and 9:36 a.m. with Sunday’s final round also featuring split tees with groups going off beginning at 8 a.m.

THE TEAM

The lineup remains consistent from the spring with just one change as Will Preston slots back in for the third time this season after competing as an individual last month in Tallahassee. He replaces Nick Werner while Alex Creamean, Jackson Saroney, Andres Barraza and Tim Peters round out the starting five for the week.

Werner along with Robby O’Regan, Billy Pabst Jr. and Zach Smith will all compete as individuals over the weekend.

Creamean remains the Nittany Lion leader this season with a 70.87 stroke average through 23 rounds with a pair of top-10 finishes.

Along with Creamean, Saroney and Barraza are the only other two Nittany Lions to compete in all events this season and have posted 72.70 and 73.17 stroke averages, respectively.

As a team, Penn State is averaging 288.96 per round this season hovering right around even par.

NEXT UP

The Nittany Lions head west for the 2026 B1G Championships on May 1-3 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Oregon.