Aided in part by the first day's perfect weather, and in part by the forgiving course, many of the teams competing at Middlebury fired off extraordinarily low-scoring rounds. As a result, although the Amherst squad greatly improved on the results from their season opener, ending the weekend with a team score of 624, they remained in the middle of the pack in 11th place out of a field of 24, behind fellow NESCAC contenders Middlebury College, and Hamilton and Williams Colleges. Still, the Jeffs finished the tournament five places ahead of Tufts University, who had bested Amherst at the Bowdoin Invitational, and six places higher than their rank of 17th at the same tournament last year.
"On Saturday, the conditions were perfect and that was really reflected in our low score as well as the performances of the other teams," said senior co-captain Sean Jules. "Sunday was cooler and misting in the morning which really changed the speed of the greens and made it difficult to score as well as we had previously. All in all we are moving in the right direction as a team and can hopefully peak for next weekend at Williams and at NESCACs." Sophomore Chris Valentine led the Amherst golfers, serving up a confidence-boosting performance on the first day of the weekend, which he attributes to chipping help from Coach Jack Arena '83. He emerged from the tournament with an excellent score of 73-81-154, but gives the impression that he remains hungry for improvement. "My second round could easily have surpassed my first day total with just a little more luck on the green," he said.
Andrew Russ '07 returned to the links despite his swollen and infected toe, to play what teammate Jules called "a heroic game." Though the weather conditions on the second day were less than ideal, he knocked three strokes off his game to finish the weekend 80-77-157. "I felt my play was not ideal, but I was not wholly disappointed," he said. "My toe caused me some pain, and may have affected my golf, but I think I was able to adapt and simply have fun and play some golf." Senior co-captain Andrew Bruns ended with an even score of 80-80-160. Jules shot well on the first day of the tournament, but slipped a little on the second day, for a score of 77-83-160, while Adam Shniderman, the lone first-year representing Amherst, overcame a difficult opening score of 86 to finish the weekend 86-76-162.
"This week overall was an improvement over our performance the prior week," Shniderman said. "Though I had the same total of 162, I feel that I am beginning to regain the confidence in my short game that is going to allow me to continue to improve my play. Breaking 80 was a step in the right direction for me mentally. Coach Arena really helped me out with getting over a poor first round performance and getting my short game back on track. I think I'm on the path to getting everything back together."
The Jeffs are making great strides in their game, but the day of reckoning draws near when they will find out if they have improved enough to best the other challengers for the tournament title. For their part, the golfers remain both cautious about being over-optimistic, as well as confident that the future holds good news. "The competition has become increasingly competitive, and while our showing was disappointing, it also gave me hope for the future," said Russ. "We have a good squad this year, headed by Andy and Sean, and I think with these guys at the helm, combined with the depth that I know we can bring to the course, we have a great chance of having a successful season."