The golf team traveled to Dudley, Mass. last Friday for a quad match against Nichols College, Brandeis University and Johnson & Wales University. Playing under cloudy skies and cool and damp conditions, Wesleyan struggled to a fourth-place finish with a team total score of 330. Nichols took first place, shooting a 315 to Brandeis’s 317 and Johnson & Wales’s 319.
Captain Dave Velardo ’08 led the way with a 77, his 13th straight score of 80 or better dating back to the fall season. Velardo’s round was good enough for a tie for second in the 20-man field. The remainder of the team’s scores was closely bunched, showing a consistency that has not always been present for the Cardinals’ golf program. Dan DeRienzo ’11 finished up with an 83, while John Eschelm ’08 and Rob McCourt ’08 followed closely, both shooting 85. Eli Wilson ’09 closed out the Wesleyan scoring with an 86.
“There was some rain before the round, but during the round wasn’t bad, just a little chilly,” Velardo said. “The course was extremely wet, so we weren’t getting any roll on our tee shots.”
While Friday definitely did not mark the team’s best performance of the year, Nichols and Brandeis both represented formidable opponents.
“All in all, it wasn’t one of our better tournaments, but it wasn’t so bad,” Velardo said. “Nichols is a strong team that we lost to, and Brandeis played pretty well to keep up with them. Everyone for us played mediocre, I think. Really, that Nichols course is one of the easier courses we play, and I think most of us shot above our scoring average.”
Friday’s match was the team’s first spring competition in the northeast, as an April 4 match at Rhode Island College was cancelled due to inclement weather. Connecticut’s spring climate not only wreaks havoc with the competition schedule, but it also makes consistent practice difficult. As rhythm and feel are essential to a golfer’s success, better weather should bring better scores.
“As the warmer weather comes around, we’ll be out there practicing more for the upcoming tournaments,” Velardo said. “We have a home tournament this Friday at Lyman Orchards. We’ll be fielding two teams, so there will be ten Wesleyan golfers competing. It’s great that we have enough players on the team to be able to field two squads. I don’t think we’ve had ten or more legitimate team members in my time on the team.”
This week’s match will mark the first time that Wesleyan has hosted tournament play at Lyman Orchards since the Little Three matches in April of 2006.
Leave a Reply