Two weekends, two championships for Hayley Milbourn '11. In the span of 10 days she has established herself as a force to be reckoned with in New England collegiate golf. This past week at Orchards Golf Club, Milbourn led Amherst to a fifth-place finish, as she took her second individual championship at the Mt. Holyoke College Invite.

Though the weather was beautiful, the course was difficult. The first day was tough for Amherst, as the team tallied a combined 344. Behind strong leadership, however, the Jeffs were able to pull together and rally the following morning. As team captain Ali Berman '08 proclaimed, "The team had a great 10-stroke improvement between the first and the second round that we were very proud to show." Sophomore Kinne Schwartz had another successful weekend, lowering her score by seven strokes from the first day to the second, and finishing tied for 25th, with rounds of 88 and 81, respectively. In her first full tournament of the season, Berman also improved her second-day score-from 90 to 85-to finish tied for 35th. Both Alissa Korpi '11 and Alex Chang-Graham '10 improved on their overall scores from last weekend, finishing tied for 43rd and 63rd, respectively.

The greens were being aerated prior to the tournament this weekend, leaving them unsmooth and uncertain. Nothing, however, seemed to hinder Milbourn's precision on the greens. After her first-round score of 76, Milbourn held a tight one-stroke lead over the field. Despite shooting higher in her second round than in her first, her score of 155 was enough to top Williams senior Mary Gelber's 156.

While it was Milbourn's second victory in as many tournaments, it is also her second straight victory by the slight margin of a mere stroke. Establishing early in her career the ability to deal with the pressure, Milbourn's early successes foreshadow a dominant rookie year.