Despite the delayed start due to rain and mixed weather throughout the day, the Amherst team worked their way to a 10th-place tie overall with Holy Cross College, three spots ahead of rivals Mt. Holyoke and Wellesley Colleges. Amherst also had strong individual contributions from sophomores Kinne Schwartz, who placed 39th overall (87-84-171), and Alex Chang-Graham, who finished 68th (96-101-197). Another solid first-year contribution came from Alissa Korpi who finished tied for 56th (90-91-181).
Although the loss of Sarah Harper '07 was a crushing blow to the women's golf team, they seem to have found a new star ball-striker in Milbourn. Highlighted in an Aug. 9 article by Wayne Drehs about integrity in sports on ESPN.com, Milbourn is also known for exhibiting class and sportsmanship on the course. Last spring, during a Maryland state tournament, she realized that she had finished her final round with someone else's ball. Despite the fact that she could've stayed quiet and easily gotten away with it, at a tournament she'd already won twice before, she turned herself in and was disqualified.
Milbourn's heroics on the golf course continued last weekend and have garnered respect and praise from her teammates. "We couldn't be prouder and happier for Hayley who not only won her first collegiate tournament ever, but did so against the hardest competition we face," said Schwartz. Milbourn edged out the only girl close to her by one stroke (Ali Bode, Harvard, +3), finishing at two strokes over par (71-75-146). The weekend was a great success both for the dominant first-year and the team as a whole.
On Saturday the team travels to Mt. Holyoke's Orchards Golf Club for another two-day tournament. Orchards is a historically tough course where the fairways are narrow and the rough is thick. It will be a good place for Amherst to build on its success at Dartmouth and one of many upcoming opportunities for Milbourn to shine again.