Hanover Country Club, the site of the Dartmouth Invitational, is one of the most difficult courses Amherst will play this season. Coupled with the fact that the competition was stiff, the Jeffs could have very easily buckled under the pressure and difficulty of the situation. However, the first day yielded a number of solid results. Senior captain Sarah Harper led the day with an impressive 78 and was closely followed by her teammates. First-years Kinne Schwartz and Jordan Chafetz fired opening rounds of 80 and 88, respectively, while junior Kristin Beneski shot a 99 and Alex Chang-Graham '09 came in with a first day total of 109. Although the Jeffs finished 15th out of 17 teams, they beat rival Mt. Holyoke and demonstrated an ability to put up solid team numbers, firing a team score of 345-361 for a two-day number of 706.
"I am very proud of our team," said Harper, reflecting on her team's performance. "The roster battled well through one of the toughest terrains in New England."
As Harper pointed out and Coach Morgan emphasized, Hanover was a target golf course, requiring precision from tee to green. However, their success was not only due to their ability to play with accuracy but because of the priority that was placed on short-game during the practices leading up to the tournament.
"Our team's emphasis on short game practice these past two weeks helped me 'find a way to score,' as Coach Morgan would put it," explained Harper. "I was really grinding for pars-especially the second day-but I was finally able to convert those bogies into pars and several pars into birdies."
That strategy paid dividends on the team's overall score as they produced their best team score since placing 14th with a team score of 705 at the 2004 Dartmouth Invitational. However, other than Harper, the second day yielded inferior scores, which is something that will certainly be worked on as they continue their season. Sunday's scores included a once again impressive round of 76 from Harper while Schwartz, Chafetz, Beneski and Chang-Graham fired a 85, 97, 103 and 110, respectively. The final individual results placed Harper in ninth, with Shwartz, Chafetz, Beneski and Chang-Graham placing 45th, 80th, 87th and 90th, respectively.
Nevertheless, the Jeffs came out of this weekend's tournament with confidence and experience under their belts. They proved that they can compete with the best in the Northeast and, with time to improve and reflect on this tournament, next week's competition will be ripe for another solid showing.