Golf Teams Finish First and Second

The Middlebury men and women’s golf teams enjoyed successful tournaments on Saturday Sept. 14 and Sunday, Sept. 15. The men hosted and won the 30th Duke Nelson Invitational at the Ralph Myhre Golf Course while the women finished second in the NYU Fall Invitational at Spook Rock Golf Course in Suffern, N.Y.

The men finished with a score of 596, narrowly edging out runner-up Clarkson (597). It was the first time in the history of the tournament that Middlebury has captured the title. Williams (599), Salem State (602) and Hamilton (603) rounded out the top five.  The Panthers sat in second after day one, just a stroke behind Hamilton. On Sunday, however, the team shot a solid 304 and withstood a charge from a surging Clarkson.

“It was really exciting golf played across the board,” Coach Bill Beaney said. “A one-shot win when we’re talking about nearly 600 strokes really highlights what every shot can do.”

Rob Donahoe ’14 captured medalist honors, finishing with a total of 139. He shot two-under 68 on Saturday, becoming the only one of the 114 golfers to break 70. He followed it up with another top round on Sunday, shooting 71 and beating out Salem State’s Cameron Daley (141) for the top spot on the leaderboard. It was the lowest two-day total in the history of the tournament.

Max Alley ’14 and John Louie ’15 tied for 21st place overall with scores of 151. They were followed by Chris Atwood ’14 (155) and Eric Laorr ’15 (158). Because the Panthers played at home, five other Panthers played the tournament as individuals, most notably Fitzgerald Bowen ’17 (152).

“It was a great win for the team,” Donahoe said. “I think playing on our home course made us comfortable with certain shots other teams found difficult. The course can get tricky at times and I think we managed to stay out of the troublesome areas for the most part.”

In the women’s tournament, no team came close to catching winner Williams (625). However, The Panthers (652) were able to overcome an eight-stroke deficit after day one to narrowly overtake host NYU (653) on Sunday. Mount Holyoke and Amherst finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Jordan Glatt ’15 led the way for the Panthers, shooting 156 and finishing with a tie for sixth place overall. Monica Chow ’16 (158) was close behind her, finishing in tenth place. Michelle Peng ’15 and Theodora Koch ’17 tied for 22nd place with scores of 171, with Koch impressively shaving seven strokes off her day-one total. Caroline Kenter ’14 shot 176 to finish out the Middlebury squad.

“I was proud of the team because of our ability to improve over the course of the weekend,” Glatt said. “Coach [Mandigo] does a great job inspiring the team to do better. He always stresses that every stroke counts.”

The women play in the Mount Holyoke Golf Invitational Saturday, Sept. 21 and Sunday Sept. 22, while the men travel to participate in the Williams Invitational, a warm up to the NESCAC Qualifier, which takes place at Bowdoin the weekend of Sept. 28.