The men's golf team has started strong, with talented freshmen reenergizing the team. While it is early in the golf season, the team has slowly been working its way toward winning the Ivy League tournament, making progress at the Cornell Invitational in September.
The Big Green collectively shot 301 points, securing a fourth-place finish out of 15 teams and a Big Green golfer finished second place. Dartmouth opened shooting 305 in the first round and 297 in the second. Their 54-hole total was 903, just one stroke shy of beating third-place winner Cornell. The Cornell tournament also marked the first collegiate tournament for the new players, and they certainly impressed spectators.
At Cornell, Jeffrey Lang '17 had a fantastic first collegiate tournament experience, scoring 13 birdies overall and securing a second-place victory.
The team will be compete in New Haven, Conn., at the MacDonald Cup, hosted by Yale University. The MacDonald Cup is regarded as a premier college tournament for golf teams in the Northeast, and typically indicates which teams in the region have the potential to dominate the season. The Bulldogs have been successful at the tournament in the past, and serve as the Big Green's biggest competition in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs are hoping to capture a third consecutive victory this weekend on their home course.
The Big Green is adjusting its strategy for the course and competitors in an effort to secure a victory.
"The Yale course, despite being the top ranked course in the country, is super quirky," Lang said. "You really need to think your way around the course, and I think that is something we can excel at. Everyone is playing well, so there's no reason we shouldn't bring home some hardware this weekend and beat Yale at their home course."
The freshmen are looking to further their mark in the Ivy League and prove themselves as collegiate golfers by excelling in competition.
"Personally, I'm hoping to keep up my consistency and putt as I have been doing," Land said. "I want to stay at or below par for this tournament. It is all about the team at the end of the day, though. We won at Bucknell to start the year, and had a bit of a rough weekend recently. It is definitely time to show the Ivies what the Big Green has got."
The MacDonald Cup will certainly give the Big Green some excellent competition, and the players are looking forward to competing with some of the best teams, such as Yale and the University of Illinois.
"I think we're all really excited to compete against some great competition and see how we stack up," Charles Cai '16 said. "Illinois is supposed to be there this weekend, and they finished as the runner up in the national championship last year along with Yale, who's always our biggest competition in the Ivy League."
Sean Fahey '17 agreed that the Big Green's competition this week will be the most challenging so far this season.
"I think the competition this weekend is the best we have faced this year so far, because Illinois is playing, who is a very strong big-10 program, among other strong teams," Fahey said. "But I'm pretty confident we can do well and have a shot at winning, because we are sending arguably our strongest team up to Yale this weekend. If we all play up to our abilities, I don't see why we won't have a shot."
The newest members and veteran players on the team are all looking forward to competing with the best teams in the nation, and the MacDonald Cup will be a strong indicator of what is to come for the rest of the season. It will certainly be a challenging and exciting weekend for the Big Green.
