The golf team earned a spot in the ECAC Div. III Championships with a fourth place finish Tuesday afternoon in Hampden Mass. The Jumbos finished with a combined score of 320. The top seven schools (out of 16) will compete in the championship at the Ravenwood Golf Club in Rochester, N.Y. (Date TBA.)
UMass Dartmouth won the qualifier, compiling a score of 310, followed by Babson (314) and Trinity (318). Every shot counted as Tufts barely edged out three schools, Salem State (321), Western New England (322), and MIT (324). Five players on each team participated, but only the top four scores counted. Out of the 80 golfers on the course, no one had a round equal to the par of 72.
The team overall was pleased with its performance.
"We did what we wanted to do," freshman Dave Hunt said. "We qualified and we played well."
Hunt shot a 38 on the front nine, but ran into some trouble on the back nine, when he was forced to take a one stroke penalty after hitting his ball into a drain. He ended up with a 45 on the back for a total score of 83, tying him for 36th place overall.
"[My individual placing] really doesn't matter," he said, "We're just psyched to be playing in the ECAC Championships in a couple of weeks."
There was even more drama for sophomore Matt Linde. After scoring a 39 at the turn, he had a chance to take the individual title of the tournament. He played beautifully on the back, scoring a 37, but the real drama came on the 14th hole.
"I was two strokes back," he said, "and I put my drive kind of behind a tree about 230 yards from the hole. I knew I had to go for the green."
He used a driving iron and placed the ball within 10 feet of the cup. But it was not without sacrifice.
"On my follow through, I hit the tree with my club and bent it out of shape," Linde said.
Unfortunately, he missed the putt and eventually finished fifth with a 76, three strokes behind tournament champion Travis Dwire of Babson. Rounding out the rest of the top five were Kyle Pelletier of UMass Dartmouth with 74, E.J. Czajkowski of Western New England with 74, and Matt Baran of Salem State with 75. But despite his miss, Linde was optimistic.
"We're looking forward to the NESCAC Championships this weekend because we get to face Williams," Linde said.
Williams had Tufts listed as a participant in its Invitational tournament this past weekend, only to learn that they were actually an alternate. So, the team was unable to participate.
"Yeah it was disappointing," Linde continued, "but after the way we played, I think we have a great shot to win this thing this weekend."
Overall, the Jumbos fared well, with none of their players finishing higher than 50th. Three earned spots in the top 25, including Linde and classmates Josh Bloomberg, who tied for 20th with an 80, and Justin Meier who tied for 23rd with an 81. Rounding out the top four for the Jumbos was junior Sebastian Gonzalez, finishing tied for 50th with an 86.
This coming weekend, the Jumbos will travel to Middlebury, Vermont, to play in a two day tournament for the NESCAC Championship. They hope to build on their already strong performances and unseat defending champion Hamilton.
