A week later, in a less crowded, more marginal field, the overall level of play dropped. At the Bryant Invitational, hosted by Bryant University at the Beaver River Country Club on Sunday and Monday, Amherst shot 349-347-696, tying for sixth place out of 11 teams.
And so the question resurfaces: why can't the Jeffs sustain the play that keeps them within shouting distance of their Ivy League brethren?
Plenty of factors seemingly conspired against the Jeffs. At the last minute, they lost Sarah Godwin '05 to an ankle injury. Late tee times on Sunday meant that all but junior captain Meg Sullivan had to finish their rounds Monday, playing from one to three holes, before going out for their second 18.
The course posed a challenge to the Jeffs, said Sullivan. "A little bit of the difficulty came from the course, since it was very short and narrow, which doesn't set up well for the majority of my teammates," she said. "Sunday was also tough because we weren't very familiar with the course and there were some blind holes."
But the course layout and abnormal playing conditions didn't appear to bother senior Kathryn Kuchefski. Thanks to stellar rounds of 82 and 83, she finished tied for 14th place individually with a two-day total of 165. Junior Emily Foran was next, shooting 88-87-175 (tied for 27th overall), followed by rookie Sarah Harper, whose 88-88-176 left her tied for 29th.
Sullivan fired a disappointing, if not distressing, 91-89-180. "I was not overly disappointed with my play but was not happy with it either," she said. "I had high expectations … after a good weekend at Dartmouth, and did not exactly live up to them."
Yet Sullivan's 13-stroke spike was atypical only in degree, not in kind, as Kuchefski was the only Jeff to match her score from the week before (in fact, she improved upon it by four strokes).
"The last two weekends were a clear display of our normal pattern," said Sullivan, "stepping up our play against a largely Div. I tournament, as we did at Dartmouth, and fading a little against the Div. IIs and IIIs, which we did this weekend."
Left unchecked, it's a pattern that might spell trouble for the Jeffs in the spring and for the remainder of the fall season. They return to the course on Saturday at the Mt. Holyoke Invitational.
Men's Golf
The Boston Globe, as the Williams College athletic website is quick to boast, rates Taconic Golf Club as one of the toughest golf courses in the Northeast. And that ranking is not just among Northeastern collegiate courses, mind you.
It may pose a particularly daunting challenge to those new to collegiate play. "It's difficult having three freshmen on a tournament squad all seeing the course for the first time, especially competing with older, more experienced teams on that particular course," said Sean Jules '07.
While last week's low scorer, sophomore David Litt, opened with a solid 79, he struggled on Sunday to finish with a score of 79-85-164.
Jules, however, was hardly fazed by the prospect of competing against older golfers on unfamiliar fairways. The first-year matched junior captain Justin Sharaf stroke for stroke, as the duo posted identical two-day scores of 79-78-157, good for 22nd individually at the 19th annual Williams Invitational.
First-years Andy Bruns and Drew Russ shot 83-83-166 and 85-84-169, respectively to round out Amherst's individual scores.
The Lord Jeffs finished with a team score of 320-303-643 (32 strokes back of the winner, Skidmore College) and an 11th place finish.
Williams, meanwhile, got two of its best performances from the class of '07. Alex Mallory shot 76-78-154, and Kevin Kellert, playing on the B team, shot 75-75-150. Practicing on the tournament course might have something to do with those scores.
As this weekend demonstrates, rookies face a learning curve-and it isn't just stiffer competition. "The level of competition now is obviously stronger," said Jules. "[However], the transition from high school golf to college golf [has been] easier than I imagined. My high school was very competitive, and I was able to compete against some of the best players in Illinois and in the country over the summer," he said.
Come spring season, Amherst's rookies will have seen at least a few of the tournament courses. In the meantime, though, the Jeffs' rookie-dominated squad must try to emulate Jules' example. "I felt I was able to feel my way around the course pretty well for the first time," he said. "My second round was a little more disappointing because I hit the ball extremely well; I just couldn't get any putts to drop."