The Dartmouth men's golfers should have known they were in for some trouble at the Ivy League Championships this past weekend when they sauntered up to the first tee at the Bethpage State Park course and saw the posted sign warning 'Experts Only.'
On this dreary weekend in New York, one in which the eight Ivy League teams were pitted against each other to determine the conference champion, the Big Green bested only Cornell and Columbia in sliding to a sixth-place finish. Princeton came away with the title.
"We just couldn't do anything right," said Alec Dicks '95, who shot rounds of 90, 77, and 80 to place second for Dartmouth and 16th overall.
One bright spot for the Big Green was Bryan Kim '95, the squad's most consistent player. After an uncharacteristic 82 in his first round, Kim fired a 76 and 75 to finish third overall in the tournament. Kim was named to the All-Ivy team for his efforts.
"Kim's comeback after that 82 kind of reminded me of Nicklaus at the '86 Masters," Dicks said.
Captain Dom Engles '94, placed third for Dartmouth with rounds of 84, 86, and 85 for a 255 total while Mike Bolf '96 placed fourth with a 261 total.
"As usual, Dom provided the leadership that we needed to do well here," William Buggie '94 said. "We just weren't able to respond this weekend."
After a spring trip to Scotland, the Big Green seemed ready to better last year's overachieving season, during which they placed second at the Ivy League Championships.
Although the team played well on some of Scotland's most challenging courses, the squad has been flat since returning to the States.
Prior to last weekend's troubles on Long Island, Dartmouth had another poor showing, this time in New Haven at the Yale Invitational. The team finished ninth after capturing the title at the same tournament a year ago. Dicks attributed the Big Green's early season woes to the fact that the Hanover Country Club has not yet opened for the season.
"We're at a disadvantage because our home course isn't ready yet," Dicks said.
