Men's golf looks to match previous year's success

By David Goldenberg

The squad is coming off a rough spring break trip, which opened up the spring session. The Blue traveled west to compete in the Oregon Duck Classic, where they finished a disappointing last in a pool of 16. The top performer for the Bulldogs, Peter Schumacher, CC '00, finished in a tie for 59th overall after a three-round stroke total of 229.

"We were all a little bit rusty," Schumacher explained, "but we were playing against several top 25 teams." Freshman standout Eddie Brockner, MC '01, who finished just one shot behind Schumacher in the tournament, added, "Most of the guys had only played one or two rounds of golf before we went out there, and we did make some improvement."

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Peter Schumacher, CC '00

"We went in unprepared," coach David Paterson said. "So we played reasonably well considering." Paterson, who has led the team to six league titles in 15 years, has been working with his players to prepare them for the spring season.

Good preparation is a critical component to Eli success. Since spring break, the team has undergone rigorous training. Every golfer is expected to play 18 holes a day, but because less than half of the team can compete in the H-Y-P tournament, the golfers rely on intra-squad competitiveness to push them from day to day.

Paterson also tries to keep his golfers focused. "I try to keep them from becoming too emotional out there," he said. "The most important thing is to stay settled." Louis Aurelio, MC '01, added, "[Paterson] tells us to keep a positive frame of mind, and if we need any other help, we seek him out."

"When the golfers come to me," Paterson added, "they are already pretty well-equipped and mechanically sound. Though we do patch-ups if the mechanics go awry, I mainly teach them course management and try to build a team."

As the spring season heats up, the team's ability to adjust from course to course will be vital to its success. The team currently practices on the Yale Golf Course, one of the most challenging courses in the country. The 432-yard par four fourth and the 238-yard par three ninth have been ranked among the 100 most difficult holes in golf.

This weekend, the team will deal with a much different landscape. Unlike Yale's course, which is known for its wide, rolling fairways, Princeton's Springdale Golf Course has significantly smaller targets. "We worked all throughout break to prepare for this," Aurelio said. "We have been doing a lot of short game practicing."

The team returns all top competitors from last year's squad, with the exception of Ken Rizvi, DC '97. The loss of Rizvi, however, is huge--he is a former Ivy League Golfer of the Year.

Yet the Bulldog lineup remains one of the strongest in the league. The trio of Schumacher, captain Scott Brinker, JE '99, and Ian MacAllister, MC '00, make up the team's core. Brockman looks to provide a boost for the team, and perhaps will help fill the void left by Rizvi.

The team is still the favorite in both the H-Y-P tournament and the Ivy League tournament, which begins on Sat., Apr. 18. "We want to show Harvard and Princeton up this weekend and then win the Ivies next weekend," Schumacher said. "Then we will focus on winning the regionals and advancing to the NCAAs."

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