Powered by a 13th-place finish from Chaki Kobayashi '06, the Dartmouth men's golf team earned its second top-10 finish in as many weeks at the Toski Invitational this past weekend.
Kobayashi, a walk-on from Newington, Conn., playing in just his third collegiate tournament, rode a hot putter to a two under par 70 opening round, only one stroke off the tournament lead.
"I didn't hit the ball well at all this weekend, so I attribute my low score to my putting," Kobayashi said Tuesday.
He wasn't kidding. The freshman buried a 40-footer in the heart of the cup for eagle on the par-five 11th and drained several others from long range, including a 20-foot downhill putt for birdie as darkness crept over the day's final hole.
Despite slipping to a 76 on Sunday in conditions that were described as blustery and agonizingly slow -- "the round lasted six hours and 15 minutes," Kobayashi said -- the freshman's 36-hole total of 146 was the strongest showing of his short-lived college career.
Kobayashi's performance, coupled with solid rounds from Kenan Yount, a fellow '06 who shot 78-75 -- 153, and sophomore Stephen Gruber (75-81 -- 156), led the Big Green to a two-day team total of 613 and a tenth place finish out of a field of 25. Central Connecticut won the tournament with a 576 aggregate score.
"It was really exciting to have one of our freshmen just one stroke off the lead the first day," Gruber said.
"There's something about having a teammate playing and finishing well that makes a bad or good day great."
Also contributing for the Big Green men were junior Jeremiah Daly, 77-81--158, and a third freshman Tony Papadopoulos, who posted an 84-81--165.
Dartmouth looks for its third-straight top-10 finish and another dominant showing from its freshmen this coming weekend at the Army Invitational.
While freshmen led the Dartmouth men's golf team to a top-ten finish just across town, upperclassmen Vivian Lee '03 and Shannon Rogers '04 did their personal bests to help the women's team one-up the men, playing their way to a third-place team finish this past weekend at the Mt. Holyoke Invitational.
Lee racked up an 82-81 -- 163, good for seventh place overall in the individual standings, and Rogers finished just a stroke back of her teammate, placing ninth with an 81-83 -- 164. Their strong finishes, accompanied by junior Kathy Birchall's 82-88 -- 170, freshman Becky Halliwell's 93-88 -- 181 and junior Alison Bergen's 93-90 -- 183, contributed to a team score of 678.
Taking third in a 20-team tournament should provide the Big Green women with additional confidence heading into one of their longest road trips of the year as they depart for this weekend's Husky Classic hosted by Northern Illinois University.
