Editor's Note and Correction Appended
The Dartmouth men and women's golf teams competed in the Ivy League Championships this past weekend at Galloway National Golf Course and Atlantic City Country Club, respectively, with the men's team finishing in fourth place and the women's team finishing last out of seven. Peter Williamson '12 finished first overall individually with a combined total score of 223 strokes. Yale University won both the men's and women's tournaments.
"The team played okay this weekend," Williamson said. "We needed four scores to post a good number. Unfortunately, we couldn't avoid taking a few high scores."
Williamson finished the first round of the tournament with a 69 (-2) for a three-stroke lead. He played the front nine at even par but then went on a tear. By the end of 15th after he had birdied four of the previous five holes he sat at four under, before eventually settling for two-under par for the round. Williamson finished as the round's only golfer to shoot below par.
Williamson called the team members a "resilient bunch," and said the golfers never gave in on a bad day despite tough conditions.
Andrew Jankowksi '13 also had a strong performance for the Big Green, finishing in ninth place with a five-over 76 after the first round.
"The team is slowly getting better," Williamson said. "Someone new always steps up every year. This year it was [Jankowski], who played great out of the four-slot."
During the second day of the tournament, the Big Green fell back a spot in the team rankings to fifth place after shooting a 315 (+31). Both Princeton and Columbia tied for third, just three strokes ahead of Dartmouth.
Williamson continued to maintain his spot on the leaderboard at five over par. Still, after putting up a seven-over 78, his lead was down to just one stroke.
Davis Mullany '11 and Jankowksi each provided Dartmouth with a five-over 76 to lead the Big Green in the second round. Both players managed to turn their performances around after struggling initially. Mullany played the final 11 holes of the day at one under par, while Jankowski was even on the back nine with a pair of birdies and bogeys. Jankowski finished the day in a tie for fourth overall with a 152 (+10).
On the final day of play, the Big Green managed to improve its performance and finished in fourth place overall with a score of 311 for the day and a total score of 940, just 32 strokes behind the Bulldogs.
Williamson continued his solid play and finished the tournament in first place, just one shot above the second-place finisher. Jankowksi finished in a tie for 11th place with 233 strokes.
"We need to finish rounds better," Williamson said. "We finished the front nine in a great spot but played poorly down the stretch. Yale played awesome [on Sunday]."
Despite the fourth-place finish, Williamson said the team completed two out of its three goals this season.
"The goals are similar every year play hard, have fun, hoist the jug. We achieved two of three," he said.
On the women's side, the Big Green held sixth place at 38-over par with a 326 at the conclusion of the first round of play.
Dartmouth also had some impressive individual performances, as Sarah Knapp '14 led the group with a seven-over 79 to tie for 11th place and earn Second Team All-Ivy honors. Knapp had four birdies, three bogeys and a pair of double bogeys during the first nine, and in the final nine she had six pars, two bogeys and a double bogey to complete her round.
The four other Big Green golfers all shot either 10 or 11-over par in the first round. Heather Roland '12 and Julie Campbell '13 tied for 19th with an 82. Katie Gulemi '11 and Marietta Smith '12 both started well but faded over the back nine to tie for 24th, each with an 83.
During the second round of the tournament, the team improved its score by three strokes but stayed in its position in sixth at 73-over par.
Gulemi and Knapp led the Big Green in individual performances with an 80 (+8), while none of the 35 individual players managed to break par.
Despite improving its score during the second round of the tournament, the women's team fell to seventh place on the final day and ended the tournament in last place with 967 strokes, just one shot behind Brown University.
"Although we would have liked for more putts to fall, we posted some solid scores," Smith said. "Not only did we post team totals that were significantly lower than in years past, but we also improved over the three rounds."
The Ivy League Championships mark the end of play for both the men's and women's teams this spring.
