New look golf team enters NESCAC Championhips

The golf team has come a long way in the last few years. From previous "erratic" performances, as senior co-captain Dan Kramer said, the team has developed into a significant NESCAC contender.

At the beginning of Kramer's four-year tenure, Tufts didn't even have uniforms; last year, it was finally furnished with team bags, the last NESCAC team to have them. The last missing piece in the logistics is a home golf course.

"We're looking for a home course so that we can have a tournament and home matches. That's the biggest change," coach Bob Sheldon said.

Tufts wants a home course so that it too can enjoy the advantages of a home turf during their tournaments. Though they have yet to find one, the team has enjoyed more support from the Tufts athletic department as its performance has improved.

Along with the improved equipment and support, the team members have begun to show the talent that formerly eluded the Jumbo golf squad.

"We're getting some good golfers, which attracts more good golfers," coach Sheldon explained.

In the past, the top three players have not matched their performance so far this year. Senior co-captain Elliot Barr and junior Brian Hawes have been the team's consistent one and two players over the years. Other than these two Jumbos, it was rare in the past that the team would get support from their three, four and five players. The addition of freshman Dan Weinbeck has helped alleviated this problem. According to Barr, the Jumbos new "one, two, three punch" should "definitely turn some heads."

"I'm about 95 percent confident that we're the best team [at Tufts] in a long time" Barr said.

If the Jumbos four or five spot players can put in a strong performance, Tufts feels it could break the 300 mark for a tournament. Along with the improved talent, the team has changed its attitude about golf.

"Instead of joking about how bad we played, we are just not playing that badly," Kramer said. "We have an expectation to win."

"We're really excited going into each tournament, and that gives us a lot more confidence," Barr said about the team's changed attitude.

The confidence shows in Tufts improved performance. The Jumbos defeated Bates, Bowdoin, Colby and Trinity at the WPI Invitational and the Bowdoin Invite respectively. The Jumbos average at the WPI Invitational was an outstanding 76 and a team score of 304, which puts them in good shape to challenge for a bid at the ECAC, the Eastern College Athletic Conference championship.

The squad will return to Holden Hills golf course on Thursday to participate in the ECAC qualifier. The competition includes 18 teams from Divisions I, II and III. Tufts has yet to face some of the stiffer competition who plan to attend this tournament, including Babson, Amherst, Williams and Middlebury.

"Honestly, I'm not worried about them, I'm worried about us. If we play like we should, we can qualify," Kramer said.

Of the eighteen teams, the top three teams and the top five players will qualify for the ECAC championships Friday Oct. 4 to Sunday Oct. 6 in New York. Tufts enters this tournament with a definite advantage, as its most recent victory at the WPI Invitational took place at the Holden Hills golf course as well.

"Even if the team doesn't make it, we hope to get some individual players into the top five," Sheldon said.

This coming weekend, Tufts will play in the NESCAC championships at Middlebury. Although the players must miss homecoming, the squad can look forward to a different showing in recent years against NESCAC rivals. Last year, the Tufts squad placed sixth out of 11 teams but narrowly missed the fifth spot by only six strokes. This year, Sheldon hopes that the team can finish in the top three at this tournament, which provides the perfect venue for Tufts to exhibit its talented and experienced squad.

"We turned heads. It's a nice [screw] you to the schools that have beaten us the past ten years," Kramer said.