Yale Golf strives for home course success

Who said men and women are different? One could make the argument that they are unique on anatomical grounds, but when it comes to the game of golf, Yale's men and women are in full agreement about what needs to be done to succeed.

Both the men's and women's golf teams willingly concede that they have yet to play up to their full potential. Each team boasts talented, well-coached golfers who have played reasonably well so far, but not quite well enough to take a tournament. Heading into the weekend, however, the men and women both have victory on their minds.

The men have competed in two tournaments so far this season. Despite Peter Schumacher's, CC '00, strong 20th place finish, the Bulldogs placed a disappointing ninth out of the 37 teams at the Yale Invitational on Sept. 13 and 14.

Having lost on their home turf, the Bulldogs picked up the pieces and headed to West Point last weekend where they competed at the Black Knight Invitational. However, the team couldn't quite overcome a disastrous first two rounds that left first place beyond their reach. With a three-round score of 941, the squad finished seventh.

"That tournament was a big disappointment to us," Schumacher said. "We simply didn't play well individually or as a team, and we completely lost our focus. We need to pick it up this weekend in order to assure us a spot in the regionals. We're going to be focused, and that's not going to happen again."

Captain Scott Brinker, JE '99, concurred. "We're looking at last week as an aberration, and our expectations for the rest of the season have not changed at all. We just can't expect teams to hand us wins. We have to go out and play as we know we can and achieve success as we have done in the past," Brinker said.

Newcomer Eddie Brockner, MC '01, showed extreme promise at West Point, finishing eighth at the invitational with a 231. The team will look to new golfers like Brockner to fill the shoes of Ken Rizvi, DC '97, last year's captain and team leader.

Julia Tiernan/YH SURE SHOT: Kate Fisher, PC '99, earned a fifth place finish at the Dartmouth Invitational with some of her best rounds yet for the Bulldogs

Coach Dave Paterson commented, "We have one of the best teams in New England, but we simply cannot afford to lose our composure and focus as we did last weekend." The team travels to New Hampshire on Fri., Sept. 26 for the Dartmouth Invitational.

The women's squad has only had one meet this season, finishing second last weekend at the Dartmouth Invitational as a result of several golfers' outstanding play.

Kate Fisher, PC '99, had the best two rounds of her Yale career, finishing fifth overall. Although captain Natalie Wong, MC '98, and Rachel Brakeman, JE '99, also had excellent rounds, it was not quite enough to oust Princeton, their toughest rival in the Ivy League.

"We lost a lot of strokes on the putting green, so this weekend we need to remember that every stroke counts. We can't miss easy shots. If we're going to win, and defend our title, we must make the big shots," Wong said.

The Elis return home this weekend for their second tournament of the year. The team plans on fielding four golfers in addition to their normal five in order to give some other players experience in Ivy League competition.

The tournament was the debut for first-year coach Heather Daly-Donofrio. "I just want my players to be pleased with their scores," she said. "We are all really enthusiastic about this weekend and the players have set really high expectations for themselves. They need to come back and work on a few things and try to top their personal bests."

When asked about what needs to be improved from last weekend's performance, Daly-Donofrio replied, "We can't put as much pressure on ourselves. The players expected to win no matter what, and all the other teams expected us to win as well. The players didn't realize the amount of pressure they were under. After starting off slow, they relaxed and played much better at the end. They know now that it's not going to be a cakewalk. They have to be more determined than the rest."

Back to Sports...