The Penn State's men's golf team played two rounds of golf on Saturday. The Lions were the second worst team in the tournament after the first one. But thanks to recording the best second-round score in the 18-team field, they found themselves back amongst the leaders.

After a roller coaster three rounds, Penn State (310-290-303, 903) took ninth place at the 35th annual Robert Kepler Intercollegiate Tournament. The tournament was held this weekend at Ohio State's par 72, 7,141-yard Scarlet Golf Course.

The Nittany Lions began the third and final round yesterday tied for fifth after making a remarkable turnaround in the second round. A 22-over par team performance in the first round put Penn State in 17th place.

But by shaving 20 strokes off their opening round score in the second round, Penn State put themselves in a position to record its third straight top-10 finish of the spring.

Every Penn State golfer improved on their first-round score in the second round.

Senior Ted Neville and freshman Jason Pannone entered the third round tied for 12th with a score of 4-over par 148. Pannone mirrored his team's second round performance by recording a round best 2-under par 70. He finished the tournament tied for 14th with a Penn State best 224 (78-70-76).

Xavier University took first place in the tournament with a score of 886. The win is Xavier's second this season.

Kent State finished three strokes back in second place, while host Ohio State and Toledo tied for third with scores of 895.

Kent State's Ryan Yip (67-74-73) claimed individual medalist honors over Toledo's Brad Heaven (69-72-73) in a playoff after they both shot a tournament best 2-under par 214 to claim individual honors.

Neville (75-73-79) and sophomore teammate Marco Poccia (80-71-76) tied for 28th overall with scores of 227. Junior Greg Pieczynski shot a 229 (76-76-75) to finish tied for 37th, while classmate Mark Leon finished tied for 62nd with a score of 233 (79-78-76).

Penn State will be back on the road next weekend for the First Energy Intercollegiate Tournament in Akron, Ohio.