Golf teams struggle through soggy weekend tournaments

The men’s golf team competed this past weekend at the annual Williams Invitational against NESCAC rivals and the other “regulars” from around the New England area.

Heavy rains slowed play at times, but the skies cleared by Sunday afternoon. Although the soggy conditions made clean ball-striking more difficult, the wet weather softened the greens and allowed for more aggressive approach shots, which is helpful around the heavily bunkered greens at Williams’ home course, Taconic Golf Course.

“I think we had a little trouble adjusting to the wet weather at times,” said Brian Cady’11. “The course was playing really slow this weekend, and we didn’t really attack the greens that well.”

Middlebury placed fourth in the event with a team score of 644, just 32 strokes behind the host and winner. Williams won the event with a two-day score of 604. The Trinity College Bantams and Hamilton College won second and third place honors, respectively.

Middlebury’s Jimmy Levins ’11 paced the Panthers squad with a six-over-par 146. Andrew Emerson ’13 followed up with a 159. Cady and John Szmyd ’11 rounded out Middlebury’s team with scores of 164 and 165.

“In the end, Williams had an unbelievable day,” said junior veteran Cady. Williams not only won the event by 18 strokes over second-place Trinity, but three of its players made the All-Tournament team.

Middlebury remained just outside of its three perennial rivals, Williams, Trinity and Hamilton. Still, our defending NESCAC champion Panthers hope to turn it around in the upcoming NESCAC championship, which will be also be held at Williams.

“Given that we’ve played this course twice this year, I think we feel more confident heading into NESCACs,” said Levins.

“I think it’s a huge help, especially for the younger guys.” The Panthers will have to rely on consistent play from the whole team in order to hopefully break the tight grip that Williams has on NESCAC competition at the moment. The Ephs have won three of their five tournaments this spring and get the advantage of playing on their home course in the final NESCAC tournament. Nonetheless, this Middlebury team has proven in past years that it thrives under the pressure of the NESCAC playoffs.

The women’s team was also in Massachusetts over the weekend for the Jack Leaman Golf Championship. The team played at Amherst on Saturday and nearby Mt. Holyoke the following day. The courses were soft here, too, because of the heavy rains that continued through the weekend. The wet conditions took distance off the teams’ drives, “minimizing roll,” as Keely Levins ’13 put it. The conditions also forced the players to adjust to much slower greens.

As a young team, the Panthers struggled to find their rhythm, finishing in a disappointing eleventh place. Nevertheless, Flora Weeks ’12 finished tied for third in the tournament with two brilliant rounds of 78-84 for a two-day total of 162. Keely Levins ’13, the newest addition to the Levins tradition at Middlebury golf, placed eighth with a two-day score of 164. The two remained close behind the weekend’s winner, Hayley Milbourn.

Milbourn and the rest of the Lord Jeffs captured the win in their hometown with a team score of 659. Behind them, Wellesley College and Williams College finished in second and third place.

“This is a young Middlebury group,” said Levins. “And in learning to respect that fact, we are starting to put up better scores as the season progresses.”

The Panthers look forward to continuing their growth as a team at Williams College’s Taconic Golf Course next weekend. Taconic provides less of a challenge as far as distance, but the course is well known for thick tree lines that penalize errant drives and heavily bunkered greens.