Making the most of a few short par-fives and holding it together on some of the longer par fours, Sharaf fired a collegiate-best round of 73 Sunday en route to his first-ever medalist honors at the Palamountain Invitational hosted by Skidmore College. On Monday he shot a 76 and captured the title by one stroke over Skidmore's Stuart Drahota, who posted a pair of 75s.
If only Sharaf's teammates had followed suit. "It was great to see Justin win such a big tournament," rookie Andy Bruns remarked. "It's just too bad we didn't do much to back him up." Even with Sharaf's tournament low round Sunday, the Jeffs shot a woeful 331 on the day. Monday was scarcely better, as a 323 aggregate score left the Jeffs in seventh place out of 18 teams.
The Jeffs' up-and-down play was perhaps typified by usually-consistent first-year Sean Jules' bizarre round Monday. After a first round 86, Jules shot an 82, an uninspired but not altogether disastrous effort remarkable only for two statistics: he hit 14 greens in regulation and needed 43 putts.
More welcome was the play of Bruns, who put together solid rounds of 82 and 78. Meanwhile, sophomore stalwart David Litt (90-87-177) struggled, and alternate Keith Zalaski '06 had a weekend he'd surely like to forget: 93-95-188.
As hard as it is to believe, Amherst actually played worse at the Williams College Spring Opener on Saturday. Despite pristine playing conditions and the familiar surroundings of the Taconic Golf Club, the Jeffs managed only to tie for ninth with Middlebury College out of 18 teams.
Sharaf paced the Jeffs with a 79, tied for 13th place individually, while Jules and Litt were next with matching 86s. Bruns was a stroke back at 87, and Zalaski rounded out the Amherst five with a 91.
While the golfers' 338 tied for their worst score of the 2003-2004 year with last week's performance at the Lou Flumere, a month from now, no one will remember the Amherst's collective fortune last weekend; they'll remember Sharaf's play. "He was striping the ball all weekend," said Bruns. "We would have been lost without him."
Ironically enough, it was a triumph borne of a minor adjustment. In Thursday's practice, Sharaf's teammate Daniel Altschuler '04 noticed a flaw in Sharaf's swing: In his setup, he was "closed" to the target, or lined up right of the target. So Friday afternoon, he opened up his stance.
In hindsight, it was a good move. At Taconic, he shot a 37 on the front nine, but as it turned out, he was just warming up. Sharaf was particularly pleased with how he capped off his round Sunday. After a birdie on 17, he made his way to the 443-yard, slight dogleg left 18th hole at Saratoga Springs Golf Course. The hole was playing shorter than the listed yardage, however, and after his tee shot ended up in the rough, Sharaf found himself about 150 yards out. He also found himself in a divot. Yet-from an uphill lie, no less-he improbably nestled a 7-iron within six feet of the pin and sank the birdie putt to finish at 73.
On Monday at McGregor Links, Sharaf, playing into a stiff wind, landed a blind 2-iron within 18 feet to set up a much-needed par on 17. Though he didn't know it at the time, it would make the difference between sharing and winning medalist honors.