The men’s golf team opened its fall season with a string of solid performances at three separate invitational tournaments.
At the Bowdoin Invitational on Sept. 9 and 10, the Cards placed 12th of 15 teams and ninth of the 10 NESCAC teams. The Bowdoin tournament was, in many ways, a preview for the NESCAC Championship, which will occur at the end of September. Eli Wilson ’09 and team captain Dave Velardo ’08 put in a great showing, as both players rung up a score of 164 over the course of the two-day tournament.
The following week, the Cards came in 20th place among 24 scoring teams at the Duke Nelson Invitational at Middlebury. Velardo carded a 77-75-152 total to tie for 22nd in a field of 123 players.
Velardo hopes to continue to build on the team’s success in upcoming contests. The golf team, which consists of largely sophomores and juniors, has a promising future ahead of it.
“We’ve been mixing around the lineup quite a bit, other than Eli and I who’ve played at the #2 and #1 slots respectively,” Velardo said.
This past weekend, the Cards traveled to Williams for another tournament. Wilson was the hero this time with a pair of 78s, leading the Cards to the 15th spot among the 19 competing teams. Velardo came in seven shots later with an 84-79-163 total. Rob McCourt ’08 also shot well, putting in a strong score of 81-83-164.
“Saturday a lot of us had a rough day, but we came back as a team on Sunday and improved our score quite a bit,” said John Eshelman ’08.
The next stop for the Cards will be at Bowdoin on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 for the annual NESCAC Tournament. Last year Velardo earned second-team all-NESCAC honors with a 13th-place finish.
This year, the stakes at the NESCACs have been raised as the winner of the tournament will now earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
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