After a lackluster first day that landed the golf team in 13th place out of 16 teams at the weekend's Williams Invitational, the Jumbos stepped up and proved something to themselves on the second day of competition.
Tufts shaved off 14 strokes between Saturday and Sunday's rounds and gained some much-needed swagger in the process. The Invitational took place at the Taconic Golf course, a par 70 with a lengthy total yardage of 6432, which seemed to have the team puzzled on the first day of action before its marked improvement.
Overall, the Jumbos finished tied for 10th, as their four-man squad shot 319 on Saturday and fired a 305 on Sunday, finishing 54 strokes behind Williams' 'A' team, the eventual winner. Salem State senior Jeff Santora took the overall individual title with a cumulative score of 135, good for five under par.
Despite finishing in the middle of the pack, Tufts coach Bob Sheldon was both encouraged and moved by the team's performance.
"We shot a 305 on Sunday, which is a very competitive score," he said "We were able to shave 14 strokes from the previous day, and the heart and pride that the squad showed fighting for Tufts brought tears to my eyes.
"It was a complete team effort," he continued. "We had to go to our No. 5 man [senior James Stone] to break a tie, so everyone contributed."
Another particularly encouraging aspect from the weekend was the play of first-year sensation Mike McCarthy. The freshman impressed his teammates by shooting two consistent rounds of 79 and 78 and finishing third on the team with his combined score of 157.
"I was blown away by [his] play," senior Cal Shapiro said. "The kid's definitely got the drive to do big things."
"I was definitely impressed," junior Luke Heffernan added. "To come out and shoot in the 70s both days in his first collegiate tournament showed a lot of maturity and shows a lot of promise for the years to come."
Despite the beautiful weather over the weekend, the conditions on the course were far from perfect. Tufts had to adjust to the temporary greens at Taconic, which are currently under renovations.
"The greens were in bad shape, so we really had to make the proper adjustments on our short game between days," Shapiro said.
Once the Jumbos observed the changes and got a feel for the course, however, their play improved dramatically. Heffernan rallied from a 43 on the front nine on Saturday to fire a 34 on the back, consequently "saving the team from disaster" according to senior Brett Hershman.
Heffernan led the team with a 77 on Saturday and a 74 on Sunday for an 11-over-par 151, which earned him a 24th place finish overall. Hershman also had a solid tournament, firing a 78 and a 74, just one stroke behind Heffernan's total.
Shapiro carded an 85 and a 79, while Stone shot scores of 88 and 82 to round out the team.
The Jumbos are optimistic that they can cut down on any mental errors they made at Williams and continue their momentum from Sunday's round into next weekend's Duke Nelson Invitational at Middlebury.
"One triple bogey can turn a great round into an average one," Hershman said. In order to be consistent, we just need to eliminate the big numbers."
Heffernan reiterated that improved focus will be central to Tufts' success down the road at future tournaments.
"We made some mental errors on Saturday," he said. "But seeing the course helped to cut down on that and gave us some much needed confidence, which we hope we can carry into next week."
"We were a little off on day one this weekend, as we were missing our No. 2 player [junior Danny Moll]" Shapiro added. "But we don't make excuses. Once we throw on our Sunday gold, the Jumbos are a force to be reckoned with."
