With its most impressive outing in nearly four years, the Wesleyan golf team placed ahead of four teams in the competition at Williams.
The Cards received several solid individual performances this past Friday, led by senior Adam Stone, who accomplished the unthinkable as he shot a 79 to lead the squad, and junior captain Hal Tift, who shot 83. With a team score of 338, the Cards showed remarkable improvement over previous years as all four members managed to break 90 strokes. Stone shot the best round of his entire career, placing 15th out of the 85 golfers in the competition.
“My round on Friday was truly an athletic dream come true,” Stone said. “Ever since I joined the golf team, it had been my goal to break 80 in competition. And I think that may have seemed to others like an unreasonable expectation, especially considering the fact that my previous low score for the team was an 86, and that I have only shot in the 70s one other time in my entire life. But I knew that I had it in me, and when I got off to a good start on Friday, I wasn’t going to let my chance slip away.”
On the 18th hole, needing a par to stay under 80 strokes, Stone was perhaps lifted to such success by a higher power, the memory of his basset hound Floppy, who unfortunately passed away last week.
“On 18, when I needed to par a short par three, I was doing it for my dad, who I knew would be so excited about the 79, as well as for my dog, a 14-year-old basset hound, Floppy,” Stone said.
“Adam’s play was astounding,” Tift said. “He was the last man in, and we knew it would take a low score to give us a respectable total. 79 was better than we even hoped, giving us a quality 338 and sticking us right in the thick of competing scores. Adam claims that his basset hound, Floppy—God rest his soul—may have had an integral part in leading him through the great round. In retrospect, I think we all felt Floppy’s presence on some level.”
No stranger to success himself, Tift had a remarkable day as he put together an impressive score of 83. Even though shooting in the low 80s is quite an accomplishment, Tift had hoped to place even higher.
“I actually was about as frustrated as I could be with a solid score like 83,” Tift said. “I was only two strokes over par through nine holes, but I came pretty unhinged on the back nine. I’d liked to have salvaged another couple strokes since there were two teams with totals of 337, just one better than us. I’m sure the other guys all feel the same way—if only a couple more of those putts had fallen.”
Not to be overshadowed, Jeff Sillin ’06 and Andrew Edge ’08 punched in respectable scores, as each accomplished the team goal of shooting below 90 strokes, finishing with a pair of 88s. This spring, the golf team has significantly stepped up its play, as the team has begun to work its way up on the leader boards.
“We’re really making progress,” Tift said. “The team has been pretty stagnant over the last few years, but now we’re beginning to creep up the leader boards. Though we’d like to do have done better, this middle-of-the-pack finish was a necessary stepping stone on the way to future victories.”
With the Little Three Championship coming up on Wednesday, again at Williams, the outlook is bright.
“Luckily, we just played on their course (Taconic, where Jack Nicklaus won the U.S. Amateur), so we should definitely have an advantage going in,” Stone said. “Williams is good, as is Amherst, but if we all have spectacular days, who knows what could happen.”
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