The Amherst men's golf team took on 15 teams in the 29th Annual Lou Flumere Massachusetts Intercollegiate Championships hosted by Bentley College last Thursday. In the team's first match of the season, the top five men-Mike Blaisdell '02, Jude Volek '03, Justin Sharaf '05, Mike Valentine '05 and Steve Collins '03-played well enough on the par 72 Stow Acres Country Club golf course to earn Amherst a fifth-place overall finish.
"We came in fifth out of 15 teams, which was not terrible, but we did lose to Babson who we really needed to beat to keep our hopes high for Nationals," said Volek. "That puts us into a bit of a corner. In the first tournament of the season it's common to do some silly things and waste a few shots-your game isn't perfect. All in all we hung in there despite not playing great."
Blaisdell led the team, shooting a 77, just five strokes over par. Volek, Sharaf, Valentine and Collins followed shooting 80, 84, 84 and 87, respectively.
Next Sunday the men travel to Williams College for the Williams Challenge and then on to the Skidmore Tournament on Monday.
Despite threats of thunder and lightning, a challengingly crafted course and slightly soggy grounds, the women's golf team made an impressive show in their second match of the season, winning the tournament hosted by the University of Hartford.
"It was really encouraging to beat Central Connecticut and University of Hartford," said Meg Sullivan '05. "They're both very strong Division I golf programs. Plus it's always great to come in ahead of Boston College."
The team was very happy with their overall performance in the tournament against the 14 other teams. With the improvement of the weather the women were able to shed their Gortex raincoats and loosen up their swings considerably. However, despite the improved forecast, the course was tricky and laden with bunkers that seemed to appear wherever a ball wanted to land.
One appreciated bonus was the opportunity the women received on Saturday to walk and chart the course prior to Sunday and Monday's tournament play, which allowed the women to enter the match with a gameplan in mind. As a result, the scores this past weekend were much more consistently distributed among the players. The top four women all put up similar scores. Katie Gravel '03 shot an 85-87, Emily Foran '05 went 86-91, Meg Sullivan came away with an 85-94 and Kathryn Kuchefski '04 shot 88-81.
"Overall there was a vast improvement in our games compared to last weekend," said Sullivan. "We were all happy with the increased consistency in hitting the ball. Also, everyone seemed to go into the weekend with a much better mentality."
For the next two weeks, the women will be home practicing for the Massachusetts State Championships and the Northeast Champion-ships, which will be played on the Orchards in Northampton and on the Amherst home course at Hickory Ridge, respectively.