Golf finishes strong at Palamountain

Author: Kevin Carpenter

The Middlebury men's golf team rallied in the second round of the Palamountain Invitational on Tuesday, April 13 to capture third place in the tournament. The Panthers bounced back after shooting a 327 on the first day and scored a 319 to propel them ahead of NYU.

The Palamountain Invitational marks the second tournament for the squad this spring. After finishing in seventh place in the Sunshine Invitational, the Panthers stepped up their game in this past weekend's competition.

Senior Michael McCormick '09 placed first among the Middlebury squad and tied for fifth overall with a two-round score of 156. Sophomore Brian Cady '11 finished strong at 17th overall with a score of 161. Rounding out the Panther top-five were Ben Kunofsky '10, Kyle Perez '09 and Jim Levins '11.

Senior Ashley Miller '09 was quick to praise the play of youngster Brian Cady.

"In my mind Brian Cady set himself apart this weekend," said Miller. "He was really feeling the flow of the course despite the ups and downs of the weather. He always maintains the zen attitude that we all strive to attain."

Despite the strong finish, the team still feels there is room for improvement.

"Looking forward to the next couple of weeks going into NESCACs, the biggest thing that most of us need to work on is our mental focus," said McCormick. "Conditions this weekend were pretty tough to score in with the wind and the cold temperatures, and most of us lost some strokes where we let the conditions get the best of us."

McCormick also noted the importance of each player honing his short game and staying concentrated in future matches.

"The biggest thing that we need to work on is grinding out our tough shots, making those 6-8 foot testy par putts, and knowing when to be aggressive and when to be more conservative on the course," said McCormick.

Miller agreed that focus and readjusting to the game are key for improvement.

"I think we need to just get our comfort level back up to where it was before the winter break through hard work and mental courage," said Miller.

With only one tournament remaining before NESCACs, the Panthers are anxious to face a Williams squad that they have historically performed well against.

"Our match against Williams this weekend will be another good warm-up for NESCACs," said McCormick. "We beat them pretty soundly last spring, and we're looking to do that again. It will also be a good event for everyone to kick off that last bit of winter rust so that we can all score to our full potential at NESCACs."

The Panthers have made a convincing run at the NESCAC title in recent years. After having won the conference tournament in 2007, the Panthers finished tied for second in the 2008 tournament.

Since the spring season is so short, the team is already focused on not only conference, but national tournaments as well. After their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2007, Middlebury hopes to reach the national stage again this year.

"If we put in the work that we need to in the next two weeks, we are in a good position going into the NESCAC Championship," said McCormick. "We would like to use our home course advantage to the fullest and win that tournament to get an automatic NCAA berth."

The men's team will compete in the Williams Invitational April 18-19.