Litchfield Park, Ariz. – Le Moyne College senior John Clare (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee) participated in the 2016 Patriot All-America Invitational, featuring top collegiate golfers from around the world, last week (December 29-31) at The Wigwam Resort's Gold Course.

A field of 84 PING All-America golfers from all three NCAA Divisions, NAIA and NJCAA rankings as well as from universities outside the United States competed in a 54-hole, stroke-play competition on The Wigwam's famed  par-70, 6,896-yard Gold Course. The field included 61 golfers from Division I institutions, five from DII, eight from DIII, six NAIA, two NJCAA and two from an Ireland institution.

Featuring golf's stars of tomorrow, The Patriot All-America Invitational is regarded as a top amateur event nationally. Current PGA TOUR stars who have played in The Patriot during their college careers, include: Brooks Koepka (2011), Trey Mullinax (2011), Patrick Rodgers (2011), Justin Thomas (2011), Daniel Berger (2012), Brandon Hagy (2012), Ollie Schniederjans (2012), Richy Werenski (2012), Bryson DeChambeau (2013) and JT Poston (2014).

Clare finished in a tie for 31st place with UCLA's Hidetoshi Yoshihara with a three-round score of 214. He opened the invitational with a 73, including a birdie on the 18th hole. He then moved up the standings with an even-par 70, which included three birdies, on Friday. He completed play on Saturday with a 71, including three more birdies. Among the five Division II participants, Clare finished second, one shot behind Graham McAree from the University of Indianapolis.

In cooperation with the Folds of Honor Foundation, each golfer playing in the Patriot All-America represented a fallen soldier by carrying a golf bag with the name and branch of service of a fallen or injured military member. The golf bags will now be shipped to players' schools and auctioned with all proceeds benefitting the Folds of Honor Foundation, which provides post-secondary educational scholarships for children and spouses of military service men and women killed or disabled while in active service.

Clare played in honor of Marine Corps. 1st Lt. Travis Manion of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. On April 29, 2007, the 26-year old Manion was conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq when his unit was concluding the search of a suspected insurgent house when it came under specified small-arms fire. Manion twice pulled wounded Marines out of the kill zone to safety before becoming the target of an enemy sniper. He was posthumously awarded both the Silver and Bronze Star for actions that ultimately saved the lives of his entire patrol group.

Cameron Champ of Texas A&M won this year's event, finishing at 7-under 203 and winning a two-hole playoff over Zachary Olsen of Oklahoma State.

Clare, who recorded a team-best scoring average of 72.8 over 12 rounds during the Fall season, and the Dolphins open the Spring season on Sunday, March 26 for the first day of Villanova University's Wildcat Invitational.