Lee Birchall '02 put a new page in the Dartmouth record books this weekend, as he became the only Big Green golfer to ever receive All-Ivy honors in four consecutive years. Birchall completed his three rounds at the Metedeconk National Golf Club in Jackson, N.J., with a three-over 73-74-76 -- 233 as the Big Green took third place overall.
The top seven finishers at each year's Ivy League Championship are exclusively named to the All-Ivy club. This time around, Birchall ended up in a tie for third place -- his finest finish at Ivies in what has been a remarkable career as a Big Green golfer.
"I was happy to finish third individually and make All-Ivy for the fourth year, which was one of my goals at the beginning of the year, but I'm definitely a little disappointed to not have won," the senior co-captain said.
Dartmouth, in the face of nationally lauded competition, put up a sub-300 team mark on the first day and boasted the lead heading into the second round.
The team struggled with the lead, however, as the core of Jero Esteve '03, Andy Pisacano '02 and Stephen Gruber '05 went a combined 16 strokes higher than their first round. Sophomore Jeremiah Daly's one stroke improvement and Birchall's one shot drop cancelled each other out, as the group's 315 was better than only eventual last place finisher Cornell's second round output.
Meanwhile, Princeton absolutely dominated the course and left the competition in a giant hole for the final day of competition. Princeton's par round of 288 was the only one of the sort in the whole tournament. The top two Tigers paved their way to first and second-place individual finishes with sub-par rounds of the good variety.
The Tigers kept up pace, bringing in the best combined score of the final round and winning the Ivy title with a 894 tournament total. Yale took a seat in second place thanks to strong play throughout, including two consecutive sub-300 rounds to open up the event on the first day of play.
Esteve shot 73-82-76 -- 231 for a share of 12th place, and Gruber scored a consistent 76-79-79 -- 234 to take a piece of the three-way tie for 18th, helping the Big Green to its best finish in the Ivy tournament since 1994.
"It was a great course for proving who's good and who's not," Gruber said of Metedeconk.
"The greens rolled perfect, they were fast, yet they held approach shots and chips. There was nothing unfair about the course; if you made a bad shot, it would cost you, and if you made good shots, you'd have great chances at birdies.
"The greens had all these undulations that made getting up and down really tough, but if you put the ball close to the hole, you'd have really flat and easy to make putts."
The men certainly showed their "mettle" in this tournament, according to Esteve, and they have newfound confidence heading into this coming weekend's competition in Rhode Island. What went down in New Jersey this weekend also has overwhelmingly positive implications for the future of the team.
"Being Coach Calhoun's first year, a third-place finish in the Ivies will be something for him to build on for next year with a solid recruiting class coming in, and will definitely help him take the program to a new level in the next couple years," Birchall said.
The women clubbers were also in action this weekend, as Kathy Birchall '04 had the best individual results in an unsatisfying weekend for Dartmouth as a whole in the Ivy Championship at the Trenton Country Club in West Trenton, N.J.
Birchall posted 88-83-87 -- 258 and finished in 16th, while Shannon Rogers '04 was just four shots behind with an 89-85-88--262, putting her in a tie for 19th.
The Big Green was sixth of six teams with a 54-hole score of 1060. Yale won its fourth title in six years with 963, and the defending champion Princeton Tigers came in just behind the Bulldogs with a 980.
"Being the northernmost Ivy, it is always a challenge to compete against the other teams who have warmer weather sooner and subsequently can practice more in the spring." Rogers said of the Big Green's springtime struggle.
"The girls have been working hard to practice as much as possible here in Hanover, which has also been a challenge because the Hanover Country Club is still not open."
The women look for better luck April 27-28 in Amherst, Mass., as they play their final match of the season in the Northeast Championship.
