Hurricane Hampers Men's Golf Panther's Outdone by Ephs Again

Author: Jack Donaldson

There are few things more frustrating for an athlete than a lack of cooperation from above. Such was Middlebury's experience this weekend at Taconic Golf Club, Williams College's home course, for the NESCAC Championship. In fact, the Northeastern tear of Hurricane Isabel that ripped through most of New England this past weekend cut a day out of the competition, making Saturday the only opportunity for play. In the single day on the course, Hamilton took the crown with a score of 311, and Middlebury finished ten strokes out of the lead in fourth place.

The rain-shortened schedule certainly did not play up to Middlebury's strengths. The Panthers have relied on strong Sundays to make up for lackadaisical Saturdays this year, and this weekend's performance highlighted their Achilles heel. In fact, many of the Panthers felt that they were poised to make a run for the title on Sunday.

"Despite our admittedly mediocre performance, we were all feeling so confident on Saturday night that we honestly thought we were going to get the gold," said an exasperated Mitch St. Peter, '06.5, referring to the trophy given to the winner at the end of the event, "and it was particularly frustrating, given that they were still ahead of us."

St. Peter's scorn was unsurprisingly directed towards the Ephs, the squad's perennially fierce rival. "I'll be honest with you, I can't stand [Williams]. And no one else in the league can either," said Chad Bellmare '07 on Sunday night. "We wanted to beat them so badly that it just got in our heads, especially me and Jay," he added, referring to fellow first-year phenom Jay "Future" Yonamine '07.

A purported mental advantage may have aided Williams on their way to a third place finish (318, +34. Amherst finished in second place, one stroke behind Hamilton), but it fails to tell the whole story for the Panthers, since they have played Williams before, with more success than they saw at Taconic. Particularly disappointing was St. Peter, who finished with an 82, including a 42 on the back nine. St. Peter, who usually exudes a monk-like calm on the course, experienced an abnormal loss of touch with his putter, and had an extremely difficult 16th.

The 16th proved to be rough for the entire team. "The wind was blowing a gale out there," Yonamine said, who finished with an 80, tied with Bellmare for 2nd place on the Middlebury squad, "And it was particularly brutal on that hole. It just came screaming up the fairway right at us, is was hardly fair." Rounding out the Panthers final tallies were senior leader Chuck Clement, with a 79, and Derek Singer '05, who finished with an 83.

This weekend truly belonged to Hamilton though, who brought home the title with strong play from top to bottom. Senior Brian Williams, the Ohio State defector, finished at 70 and won NESCAC player of the year for the second time, and freshman Chris Pike took Rookie of the Year with a 74. This leaves Middlebury smelling blood and hungry for the NESCAC competition in the spring, where they will hopefully be rejoined by the talented Sean Breen '06, who pulled a Bobby Fisher-esque disappearance from competitive play this fall. As for now though, Middlebury still has the New England championship in two weeks in their sights.