Stepping up to the tee last weekend against nine fellow small-school teams, the men's golf team competed in the 2007 NESCAC Championship Qualifier at Hamilton College's Skenandoa Club. They needed a fourth-place finish or better to advance to the inaugural conference championship in April. The Jeffs contended with large, speedy greens, undulating terrain and narrow fairways on the par-72, 6,563-yard course in Clinton, N.Y. Despite another precocious effort from Trip Wray '11, the team finished seventh in the 10-team field, with an aggregate score of 640 after shooting 320 on each day; the Jeffs fell 24 strokes short of qualifying for the NESCAC finals.

Wray, who tied for ninth place overall, continued his recent streak of brilliance by shooting a 76 on Saturday and a 77 on Sunday for a tournament total of 153, just nine strokes over par. Chris Valentine '09 was close behind with a score of 158, after shooting 79 on each day. He placed 24th, but lamented that his scores suffered because he had "failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities."

Adam Shniderman '10 injured his wrist on Saturday when he struck a tree root on the 8th hole. Despite playing with a taped wrist the next morning, he improved on his day one score of 88 by 10 strokes to finish at 40th overall, with a total of 166. Just behind him, at 168, was Will Collins '09, who tied for 44th after shooting 82 in his first round and 86 in the second. Judd Olanoff '08 rounded out the Amherst competitors with a two-day total of 171, scoring 83 on Saturday and 88 on Sunday and placing 49th.

Amherst had a particularly hard time with the complex greens, which have earned a reputation for apparently defying gravity and breaking uphill. When asked what the trickiest part of the course was, Valentine replied without hesitation, "The greens proved exceptionally difficult and cost strokes with three-putts." Mother Nature was no great help either, as intermittent winds complicated the course's already tricky approach shots and narrow fairways.

However, the team agrees that the mental aspect of their game needs the most improvement, as they have all the physical tools necessary to win. To quote golf great Bobby Jones, "Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears."

The Jeffs recognize that consistency under pressure is best gained through experience. Shniderman noted, "The spring will be a good season to use the tournaments as practice in hopes that next year we will qualify for the NESCAC Championship."

Trinity College finished in first place with a total score of 606 and will host the championship round in April. Middlebury College, Williams College and Hamilton finished second, third and fourth, respectively. The four will compete for the NESCAC crown this spring.

The Lord Jeffs take a short break from tournament play before the New England Intercollegiate Golf Association Championships on Oct. 21-23, when they will face the likes of Div. I golf heavyweights University of Rhode Island, Harvard University and University of Connecticut.