Former Siena basketball player qualifiers for U.S. Mid-Amateur

Rexford

Jim Gifford and Kyle Downey were once Siena College athletes, but most of the similarities end there. Gifford captained the golf team, and Downey was a basketball recruit of Fran McCaffery.

"It would have been great if he were on our friggin' golf team," Gifford, who graduated three years earlier, says of Downey.

The former Saints were reunited Thursday, playing in the same group in the U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifier at the Edison Club, and they will see each other again next month in Charlotte. N.C.

Gifford and Downey were co-medalists in the qualifier, each posting a 2-under-par 70, and grabbed the two berths to the U.S. Mid-Amateur on Sept. 22-27 at the Charlotte Country Club.