Golf opens the spring in Saratoga

Author: Matt Ferrer

This past weekend most of us were watching Tiger Woods in hopes that he might add another green jacket to his collection. We were crying with Brandt Snedeker as he fell from would-be glory to a final round 77. We were marveling at Trevor Immelman as he ran away with the Masters Championship. However, what we were not doing was watching the much-anticipated start of what the Middlebury men's golf team hopes to be a breakthrough season. In their first match of the spring, the Panthers traveled to Skidmore to play in the Palamountain Invitational. With 11 teams taking part in the tournament the Panthers finished a respectable fifth. Host Skidmore took advantage of playing on its own course and beat the competition by an astounding 32 shots, with Hamilton, Williams, St. Lawrence and Middlebury rounding out the top five.

The Panthers were led by Mike McCormick '09 who posted scores of 79 and 77 on the weekend for a total of 156 (+12) and a top 10 finish. Captain Harrison Bane '08.5 finished in 15th as he fired 79-80 for a two-day total of 159 (+15). No one else was able to break 160 for the Panthers as Brian Cady '11 and Jeff Patterson '08.5 both came away from the weekend with scores of 164 (+20). Jimmy Levins '11 (165) and George Baumann '08 (172) rounded out the Middlebury golfers as the team shot a cumulative score of 644, a disappointing 44 shots off Skidmore's pace.

The Panthers had hoped for a better result, but with their only on-course experience to date coming on their spring break trip, perhaps the golfers were merely shaking off early season rust. Bane pointed to other factors that played a role as well. "We struggled both days and while the conditions and weather weren't ideal, we didn't fight hard enough to get the job done," said Bane. As any golfer will tell you, sometimes the biggest obstacle to a shooting a low score is your own mind. And, according to Bane, the men's golf team may have struggled mentally this past weekend.

However, with the opening of Middlebury's Ralph Myhre Golf Course this week, the team remains confident that it can build on its fifth place finish and finish the season strong. Playing host to the Middlebury/Williams Cup this coming weekend and then traveling to Trinity College the following weekend for the last scheduled match of the spring, Bane seemed nothing but optimistic as he said, "This will hopefully get us going in the right direction and prepare us for the NCAA qualifier in two weeks. We have the team and talent to get there."