Golf closes out season at New England Championships

The Tufts golf team finished out its season Tuesday, and although it had hoped for a better result, there were some bright spots.

Tufts came in 32nd out of 45 teams at the New England Championships held at Captains Golf Course in Brewster, Mass. The Jumbos shot a combined two-day score of 693, 83 strokes behind first-place University of Rhode Island.

The field was very strong, consisting of teams from Divisions I, II and III. The Jumbos only brought four golfers to the tournament instead of the usual five because many of the players had midterms and others were sick.

One positive aspect for Tufts was senior captain Brad Hawes' performance. Hawes finished his collegiate golf career by shooting 78-80 to finish 27th out of 218 golfers.

"I was very happy with how I played," Hawes said. "I actually played a little better on the second day, even though I shot a bit worse. The conditions on the second day were much tougher, the winds were really strong. Overall, it was a good way to finish out my career."

"I thought Brad had an excellent tournament," coach Bob Sheldon added.

Freshman Arjun Chawla had Tufts' second-best score, posting consecutive rounds of 85. Sophomore Dan Weinbeck shot rounds of 85 and 90. Senior Andrew T. Weiss rounded out the scoring for the Jumbos with a 94-96.

The conditions made it difficult for almost anyone to post low scores, and Captains Golf Course provided a difficult test for the golfers. The cold weather, strong winds, and long holes made for some high numbers across the board.

"Overall I felt my play was okay considering the conditions," Chawla said. "My ball-striking was pretty good, but the wind was absolutely incredible. It was gusting up to 40 mph at one point. Shots that were hit right at the green were going into the woods."

Sheldon, however, did draw some satisfaction out of his team's performance.

"Our play wasn't quite as good as we would've liked," Sheldon said. "But we did beat some of our NESCAC opponents. We got some revenge on Trinity, who beat us earlier in the year, and we also beat Wesleyan."

Still, Sheldon would have liked his team to enjoy a bit more success this year.

"Sure I was a little disappointed because on paper I think we are a little better than we played this year. We have a lot of guys on this team with low handicaps," Sheldon said.

Hawes echoed Sheldon's sentiments, but he felt the team did its best.

"Both the team and I didn't quite play up to expectations," Hawes said. "But when you're dealing with classes and it being a busy senior year for me, you just do the best you can."

Sheldon also noted the difficult balancing job that golfers have to do.

"It's also tough because golf is so time consuming and our guys have a lot to deal with. This tournament was on a Monday and Tuesday during midterms [so] it's hard to expect everyone to be out there."

Overall, the Jumbos were not elated, but content. Chawla in particular was happy with his first year of college golf.

"I really enjoyed the year overall. I played better in the early tournaments, but just being a freshman, I felt I did pretty well," Chawla said. "I'm going to work real hard over the summer to improve. I had a great time though. The guys on the team were cool and Coach Sheldon is a great guy."

Sheldon and Hawes both believe the team has a bright future ahead.

"The team is very young, so we do have something to look forward to," Sheldon said.

Tufts has a strong core of freshmen, including Chawla, Matt Linde, and Justin Meier. Weinbeck, only a sophomore, was last year's NESCAC rookie of the year. With this returning core there is reason to expect big things from the Jumbos in 2004.