After a rained-out Bucknell Invitational, Dartmouth men's golf opened their season this weekend with a strong showing at the Dartmouth Invitational. The Big Green finished third out of 14 teams to start in an impressive fashion heading into the 2004-2005 season.
A notable performance this season has been delivered by freshman Jamie Wallace who is playing in the number-one position for Dartmouth. He posted a one-over par 72 yesterday in the final round of the Dartmouth Invitational. This earned him a tie for fifth, with a two-day total of 145, just five shots behind Matt Burroughs, who finished first.
Other notable performances were Matt Uretsky '07 finishing ninth with a 148, and Chaki Kobayashi '06 and Kenan Yount '06 posting a 155 and 159, respectively. "It was a good starting point. Not everyone clicked, but that's the exciting part. Last year when we didn't click, we would finish outside the top ten. This year, we didn't click and finished third," Yount said of this year's result.
What is amazing this year is that the team has no seniors, meaning that they are building for next year. With two juniors, two sophomores, and three freshmen, the team is young, but extremely talented. As Charlie Kettering '07 said, "We took a big leap up from the previous years. We are young but mature."
Kobayashi said, "We are better than we were last year. This year there are no weak links, and it's just a matter of time before we win."
The goals have been set high for the year, as the Big Green hopes to win one tournament this fall and one in the spring. However, they do have the drive and the hunger to make this happen. "Although we are not ashamed of our performance, we are not satisfied either," Kobayashi said after this weekend's third-place finish.
They look to work on their strengths but also focus on their weaknesses. Kobayashi said, "One weakness is that it seems that we make more doubles, triples and others than we should." That being said, it is quite clear that this year's team has a lot to offer. The sheer fact that everyone on the team has the opportunity to post low numbers, ensuring depth and a fairly high quality of play, their goals should be quite attainable.
The team continues on their quest to win a tournament this fall at the Army Invitational Oct. 2-3.
