The golf team's season ended this past weekend on a bitter note as the Jumbos came in ninth place at the Johnson and Wales University Spring Invitational. A 342 on Saturday placed Tufts behind the 8-ball in a tie for eighth, and though a 336 on Sunday was an improvement, the ninth-place finish was the worst Tufts has had in a few weeks.
"We had a rough first day," sophomore Dan Moll said. "The course wasn't in great condition, and the greens were pretty bumpy and pretty slow. The greens really hurt us. It was a poor showing on the first day, but the second day was a bit better. The conditions of the course, along with the weather, contributed to our less-than-best play."
"I thought we struggled a little bit with the course," sophomore Luke Heffernan added. "There were a couple difficult holes where the wind was a factor. We had never played the course before. The greens were a little bumpy, and one player from the host team said that some of the greens played at different speeds, which make things tough."
The team was also golfing without senior co-captain Benjie Moll, as he competed in the Boston Marathon. The Jumbos finished behind both UMass Dartmouth and Babson College, schools above which Tufts had placed at the previous two tournaments.
"It was disappointing," Dan Moll said. "We had gradually played better and better as the season went on, and we kept improving. ... I think a part of it was that we didn't have the senior leadership of co-captain [Benjie Moll]. That was part of the problem. We just didn't have it for this weekend." Dan Moll showed the largest improvement of any Jumbo from Saturday to Sunday, as he improved eight strokes from an 85 (+14) to a 77 (+6). Heffernan finished just behind Moll with a combined score of 164, as he too finished two strokes better on Sunday than Saturday.
"I was a little disappointed," Heffernan said. "We had improved so much over the last two tournaments, and then we fell back in this field. I don't think anyone really felt like they played well. Danny had a decent score the second day, but I don't think he was happy with the results."
Junior Caleb Shapiro and senior Jesse Shapiro rounded out the four-man total as Caleb Shapiro shot two 87s, while Jesse Shapiro shot an 87 and a 91. New York University won the tournament, finishing with a 606, 19 strokes ahead of Babson College, the next closest competitor.
Thursday, Tufts saw better results, taking home a third-place finish at the Western New England Invitational on the strength of a par 72 by Moll, which was the best round of any golfer on the day. The medal was the first in Moll's career.
"I was just putting really well," he said. "I was hitting solid iron shots and hitting the ball in the middle. My short game was on."
"That was awesome to see," Heffernan added. "We had one player last year -- Pat Sullivan [LA '08] -- who won a tournament last fall, and that was the only other one I'd been involved with [in which a Tufts golfer medaled]. I know [Dan Moll] was even bummed out because he finished poorly with two double bogeys and still managed to win. He was four under going into 17. It was great."
Heffernan himself notched a 78, which was good for 10th place in the 49-man field. Benjie Moll and Caleb Shapiro shot 83s to complete Tufts' 316 score. The total was just eight strokes behind Nichols College's tournament-winning 308.
While Tufts was unable to carry that momentum into the final weekend of the season, the Jumbos will now look forward to next season, when they will look to remain competitive despite some roster turnover. Benjie Moll and Jesse Shapiro will graduate in May, but Tufts will be returning a couple golfers from abroad. Juniors Brad Dreisbach and Brett Hershman will return to play behind Dan Moll and Heffernan.
"It's a little disheartening, not having given our best effort, but we showed that even without our usual players in the lineup, we could still manage to go out there and compete as a team," Heffernan said. "I'm looking forward to next season."
