Golf Teams Compete in NESCAC Tourneys

Battling through the elements, the women’s golf team finished second at the Middlebury Invitational this weekend, while the men placed fourth at the NESCAC Qualifier hosted by Amherst, sending the men for the NESCAC Championships in the spring. The men and women had some impressive results, led by William Prince ’13, who tied for second overall in the men’s tournament, and Keely Levins ’13, who finished in third on her home course.

On the men’s side at Amerhest’s Hickory Ridge Golf Club, Trinity College stole the show with a 15-stroke win (592) followed by Williams (607), Hamilton (611) and Middlebury (613).  This result gives Trinity the right to host the NESCAC Championship in the spring.

On Sunday, the Panthers bested their first day total of 314 strokes by improving 15 strokes for a score 299. The Panthers have improved on their first day totals during the second day at each tournament so far this season.

“The conditions were very wet, particularly on the first day,” said Prince. “The greens were tough to get the hang of because there was a ton of moisture in them. I think this threw a lot of our guys off on the first day.”

Given the challenging weather, Prince led the team with 148 strokes followed by Chris Atwood ’14 (154), Rob Donahoe ’14 (157) and Eric Laorr ’14 (158). Andrew Emerson ’13 also made his first appearance since recovering from an ACL injury, shooting 160.

For Prince, this weekend was a big step up.

“I definitely took a lot away from those first couple of tournaments and turned them into learning experiences,” said Prince. “That being said things came together well for me this weekend. There was great competition out there and I really enjoy competing and going all out in these big tournaments.”

He was also optimistic concerning the team and the upcoming spring championships.

“I think the team will learn from this tournament,” remarked Prince. “We’ve got a lot of talent, so if we can consistently improve from now until the spring championship, we’ll play to our abilities and have a great shot of winning.”

At the Ralph Myhre Golf Course, the women competed in the Middlebury Invitational, which also doubles as the NESCAC Tournament. The Panthers continued to perform strong in second place behind Williams. Williams took the win with a total stroke score of 651, 12 strokes ahead of the Panthers’ 663, followed by Vassar College in third with 693. These results demonstrate the ongoing dominance of Williams and Middlebury in NESCAC women’s golf.

Senior captain Keely Levins ’13 topped the Panthers in third place overall with a pair of 79s for a total of 158 strokes. Head Coach Bill Mandigo spoke about his captain’s impressive season.

“[Levins] has done an outstanding job as captain and has been playing great golf,” said Mandigo. “She has played seven rounds this fall, and been under 80 in six of them … a tremendous accomplishment.”

Close behind were Jordan Glatt ’15 in seventh place (164), Michelle Peng ’15 in eighth (167), and Caroline Kenter ’14 in 12th (173). Monica Chow ’16 finished tied for 13th, scoring a 175.
“In the past few years our Middlebury tournament has had tough conditions and this weekend was no different,” said Peng.  “It rained on and off both days and the course setup was difficult. No doubt the conditions affected the whole field and resulted in high scores across the board. We were all drenched and it was difficult to even hold onto the club.”

Peng improved her score by seven strokes on day two, shooting 88 on Saturday and 81 on Sunday.

“The one part of our game our team is working on is consistency,” commented Peng. “This fall, we’ve struggled to put together two good days of play and subsequently haven’t been able to perform as well as we want to. Next weekend at Williams our goal is to play well both days and hopefully come out with a win against our biggest competitors at their home course. The only way to do that is for all of us to play our best and be consistent.”

The men compete in Manhattanville on Oct. 13 and 14, while the women compete at Williams this weekend to round off both of their fall seasons.