This past weekend was a big one for both the men and women's golf teams, as the men prepared for the upcoming Dartmouth Invitational while the women concluded its season. Fairly good weather allowed solid conditions for the tournaments, although the men and women's team had drastically different results.
The men's team played in the Rhode Island Newport Invitational and finished a disappointing 10th out of 16 schools.
Jeremiah Daly '04 said, "I am not exactly sure what went wrong but our team has been in kind of a rut lately."
Dartmouth ended up shooting a 36-hole total of 638, including a 30th place finish for Matt Uretsky '07. The host team swept the competition with an excellent 590 to take the top prize at the Invitational.
"We just need to get out of our own way and play the way we know how," Kenan Yount '06 said. "Everyone in the starting line-up is a great player. We're just not performing in tournaments to our best ability."
However, Daly added, "We are hosting a tournament down in New Jersey on this coming weekend and then we end the season with a match against Harvard on May 9th so we are not quite done yet. Now that our course is open and we can practice I expect good results to finish out the year."
In contrast, the women's team has been playing better and better as the year comes to a close. The culmination of this improvement was a third-place finish at the Northeast Championships. This was their last match for the season, and the performance was an excellent way to finish off the campaign.
Dartmouth scored a 684, finishing just behind second-place Boston University's 681. Harvard topped the competition with a 647. Anne Daher '07 posted a solid performance, shooting a 165. In the final tournament of their Dartmouth careers, Shannon Rogers '04 and Kathy Birchall '04, managed to tie for 16th, both with scores of 174.
"It was my last collegiate tournament, so it was pretty bittersweet," Birchell said. "But I have a lot of confidence in the three freshmen and our sophomore. I think they'll do great things with the program."
"Annie Daher and Hayley Stevens especially made important contributions this year as freshmen. My co-captain Shannon and I were thoroughly impressed with their progress and commitment. I expect them to continue developing their next three years here and leading the team to some victories."
"My time at Dartmouth and as a member of the women's golf team has been awesome," Rogers added. "I will be excited to watch the team develop further as I watch from the sidelines as an alum."
The future bodes well for the women's squad, while the men's team still has a chance to show their skill that they have demonstrated in the past. They travel down to Atlantic City, N.J. this coming weekend for the annual Dartmouth Spring Invite.
