With a young line-up of heavy hitters, the Cardinal golf team wanted to make a splash in their opening tournament of the year, at the Skidmore Invitational in Saratoga Springs, NY. They certainly did just that.
Dave Velardo ’08 scored a 69 in his second round of play, the best round by a Wesleyan golfer in 30 years and Eli Wilson ’09 put up a 147 total to take eighth in the field of 64 golfers. Overall, the Wesleyan squad found themselves tied for 7th in the 13-team field.
“Given that the majority of our starting lineup is first-year players, we have the potential, in future years, to compete for the NESCAC championship and to qualify for the NCAA national championship,” Velardo said.
Wilson paced the team with a 73 in his first round and 74 in his second. The freshman from Honolulu, HI was playing in his first collegiate golf match, yet managed to beat his nerves and his opponents en route to a great day.
Next on the board for the Cardinals was Velardo. After an opening round 82, the sophomore exploded for his awe-inspiring round of 69. As Co-captain Jeff Sillin ’07 said, “A year ago, if I had heard that a Wesleyan Golfer had shot a 69, I would have assumed he was playing putt-putt. It’s been a long time since anyone here has played that well. Dave’s round proves that on a good day, he can beat anyone in Division III. That is something for him to hang his hat on.”
“The 69 did not produce a great deal of excitement,” Velardo said, downplaying his round. “Realistically, I knew before the round that if I played a good round of golf I could get into the sixties. This is due to the fact that the course was playing easy and weather conditions were ideal. Also, I did not feel a great deal of excitement or nervousness during the round because I had played so poorly the first day that I was out of individual contention.”
Velardo started his round in dramatic fashion with a chin-in for birdie. On the round, he nailed a total of 5 birdie putts. Still, the sophomore hoped to have putt better, saying, “If I putted better than average, I would have really shot a low number because I missed a lot of birdie putts inside 12 feet.
”Throughout the round, my iron game was very sharp,“ Velardo said. ”Except for one bad swing on the 4th hole, every iron shot that I hit either ended very close to the hole or was headed at the pin and ended up a little short of the hole. My driver was uncharacteristically wild, but it did not hurt my scoring because I did not drive it into the trees and I was able to hit good iron shots from the rough.“
The real excitement of Velardo’s round came on the 18th hole, a few shots from a great round. ”I knew that I was three under par going into 18th and wanted a par for the 69. I was very happy when my lag putt on the 18th green stopped close to hole for an easy tap in.“
Co-captain Hal Tift ’07 finished third for the Cardinals with a 156 total over the two days. John Torrenti ’08 and Sillin rounded out the scoring five for the Cardinals at the tournament.
”I expect that, this fall, we will see team results slightly better than the results that we achieved at Skidmore,“ Velardo said. ”I would like the team to establish itself this year as a team that finishes just behind the best teams in the northeast, namely Skidmore, Williams, and Middlebury.“
”We already know that Eli and Dave can compete with anyone,“ Sillin said. ”Now its just up to the rest of us to realize our potential. Golf is a fickle game, so making predictions about our future performances is asking for trouble. But I would like to see us beat at least half of the Division III teams we play.“
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