Men’s and Women’s Golf Teams Compete in Massachusetts

Over the weekend, the Middlebury men’s golf team finished second behind Williams at the Williams Invitational, while the women’s golf team finished fourth at the Mt. Holyoke Invitational.

The Panther men put a solid performance together, bettering their last two tournaments. Williams took to their home course commandingly with a pair of 292 combined daily scores, for a 584-stroke weekend total. Middlebury sat comfortably in second with 599 strokes, ahead of Babson (602) and Trinity (603). After day one, the men were tied for fourth place, but a better day Saturday vaulted them onto the podium by the tournament’s end.

Eric Laorr ’15, a consistent performer so far this fall, led the men and finished tied for sixth overall, posting a two-day total of 154.

“I always get geared up for tournaments at Williams,” Laorr said. “I love playing their course and I love the rivalry between our schools.”

Rob Donahoe ’14 and William Prince ’13 , both scoring 157, finished close on Laorr’s heals. Chris Atwood ’14 rounded out the Panther’s top-four scorers with 158 strokes on the weekend.

Laorr navigated the challenging Taconic Golf Club, the Eph’s home course in the Berkshire Mountains.

“An important part of playing consistently is to be fully committed to your game during the round, regardless of whether or not you’ve brought your best golf to the course,” said Laorr. “I think that I have managed to stay focused and committed on the course and that has led to better play this fall. [This weekend] I was pleased with the way I played. I was swinging the club well.”

Some odd bounces and rare lapses marred the scorecards of the top Panther golfers, but Laorr’s bellwether play guided the team to the top.

“I think as a team, we can take our second place finish as a positive,” he added,  “but there is room for improvement in terms of playing our own games and working with what we brought that day, good or bad. I hope that our team can go into the NESCAC qualifier at Amherst with momentum and purpose.”

After two impressive weekends, the women finished the Mt. Holyoke Tournament in fourth place in the team rankings. Williams took the top spot with 647 strokes followed by Merrimack College and Wagner College, who tied for second with 651s. Middlebury (654) came in with five strokes less than fifth place Ithaca (659).

All top-four Panther scorers placed in the top-20, paced by Keely Levins ’13,  who led the team for the third straight weekend and finished in eighth place with 160 strokes. Michelle Peng ’15, who has started the season off with a number of competitive finishes, tied for ninth with 161 strokes, while Caroline Kenter ’14 and Monica Chow ’16 tied for 19th with scores of 167.

The men’s golf team travels to Amherst for NESCAC Qualifiers, while the women host the Middlebury Invitational this weekend.