Bane rides the birdie train

Author: Jeff Patterson

The Middlebury men's and women's golf teams enjoyed a rare treat when they played together in the first-ever Williams Coed Invitational. In addition to the individual team tournaments, there was also a combined men's and women's tournament. The men finished the day third out of nine teams while the women finished second.

"This weekend was a pretty special event because it brought together both the men's and the women's programs to play at the same course on the same weekend," said Karen Levin '08.

The weekend was made more special as the Invitational was hosted at Williams' Taconic Golf Course, a par-71 course that is one of New England's most prestigious and challenging courses.

"The Taconic course is notorious for having very fast greens, and on many of the holes the strategy is to stay below the pin or you could have a dangerous putt coming down a steep hill," said Levin.

Helping the teams out in their two days at Taconic was the weather, which remained kind to the golfers as a lack of rain belied the threatening skies. However, the course itself was still damp and played longer than usual.

On the men's side, after a fine showing in the fall, during which the team clinched a berth to the Division III NCAA championship, the third-place finish this weekend was not exactly what the team was hoping for. The men finished with a two-day total of 617 (+49), 22 strokes back of pace-setting Skidmore.

The team was anchored by the performances of third-place finisher Harrison Bane '08.5 (72-75, +5), and Michael McCormick '09 (77-74, +9). Following them were Ashley Miller '09 (79-81, +18), George Baumann '08 (81-79, +18) and Chad Bellmare '07 (84-80, +22).

"As a team I think we are a little disappointed in our weekend and are going to work real hard in the next two weeks to be ready to play well at the national championship," wrote Baumann in an e-mail.

As Baumann noted, the primary goal in sight for the Panthers is, of course, Nationals. The spring season for this team is seen more as a long tune-up for the players, a time to iron out the kinks in their swings, to develop more feel around the greens and to hone their putting strokes.

"As a team, we need to manage our rounds better, while we are on the course, making better decisions and leaving shots on the right side of the hole," wrote Bane.

The men have one last match, this Saturday at Williams, to prepare for Nationals, which will be held in Indiana.

The women, who played with the added pressure of an NCAA Tournament berth at stake, finished solidly in second place, only two strokes behind hosts Williams. The women closed the weekend with a two-day combined score of 668 (+100).

Leading the charge for Middlebury again was Captain Heather Gallagher '07 who fired a two-day 161 (+19), good for fourth place overall. She was followed by Allison Ortega '07 (81-86, +25), Kerry Ortega '07 (80-89, +27), Julie Ellenberger '09 (89-84, +31) and Levin (87-89, +34).

The scores were quite solid - all the women placed in the top-20 - especially in light of the fact that the Taconic Golf Course is unforgiving.

"I think that there were a lot of shining moments and some great shots," wrote Levin. "We know we still have a lot to tune up in our golf games in order to put a whole round of golf together."

And there will surely be more golf to play because on late Monday night the women received word that for the first time in its four years as a varsity team they will be heading to the NCAAs.

"It represents a culmination of hard work by our forbearers and the dedication of our coaches Bill Beaney and George Phinney," wrote Kerry Ortega '07. "We are all very excited to represent Middlebury on the national stage."

Nationals will be held at the El Campeon Golf Course, which is just outside of Orlando, from May 8-11.