May 2, 2013
With the end of the semester fast approaching, the Hamilton men’s and women’s golf teams finished their spring seasons with high hopes for the fall. This past weekend, the men’s team faced Trinity, Williams and Middlebury at the 2013 NESCAC Championships, held at Shuttle Meadow Country Club in Kensington, CT, while its female counterpart competed at the 2013 Eastern College Athletic Conference Division II/III Championships at the Country Club of Ithaca. Ultimately, the Continental men tied for third place, and the women finished in fifth place.
The Hamilton men’s golf team earned a spot in the 2013 NESCAC Championship this past October, when it finished in third place in the qualifier. This was the fifth time that the Continentals have competed in the event since the NESCAC League put a 10-team qualifier into place in the fall season and a four-team championship in the spring for the 2007-08 academic year. Previously, Hamilton has successfully placed second in the 2008 NESCAC Championship, third in 2009 and 2010 and fourth in 2012.
Team captain Greg Scott ’14 finished second out of 20 golfers with a 2-over-144 on the par 71 layout, which measured 6,329 yards. His scores for the weekend consisted of a 73 on Saturday and a 71 on Sunday, his season-best. Brandon De Graff ’14 finished at 157 (79-78), while Carter White ’14 posted a 77 on Sunday.??Mac Pivirotto ’15 tied a career best with a pair of 75s for a two-day total of 150. NESCAC’s 2012 Rookie of the Year Matt Yung ’16 finished with a 77 on the first day and a 79 on the second day, reaching 156 in total.
By the end of the weekend’s tournament, Williams claimed the team title and received the conference’s automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA Division III Championship; their two-day total was 592. Host school Trinity College followed directly behind Williams in second place at 594, and Hamilton and Middlebury College were deadlocked at 607.
Going into the tournament, the Hamilton men knew that they would face a difficult challenge in both Williams and Trinity. But the Conts were happy to take on a more friendly course with better weather. Scott said, “After the last couple tournaments where scores were pretty high and the conditions were tough, it was nice to play a course that you could really go low on.” Scott was also proud of the way the team performed as a whole over the course of the weekend. He said “Williams is always strong so we knew they would be a front runner... Middlebury had won the last two so we always had to watch out for them. But we held out own... and we tied Midd... We gave it a good run.”
The Continental women also had notable successes at their respective tournament. Gillian Dudeck ’13 recorded a top 10 finish, specifically falling at 10th out of 39 golfers after she carded rounds of 86 and 83 for a 36-hole total of 169 on a par 72 layout that measured 5,800 yards. Anne Govern ’15 tied for 12th place at 172 while Katie Steates ’15 placed in 28th with a final total of 208. Govern posted an 83 on Saturday and added an 89 in her second round. Liz Morris ’16 recorded rounds of 98 and 96 for a total of 194, and Katie White ’16 finished with a total of 239.
The Hamilton Continentals finished for a total of 743 strokes on Sunday. Division II Merrimack College ultimately grabbed the team title with a score of 649, and nationally ranked No. 24 New York University was runner-up at 679. Ithaca, which ranks No.17, finished in third place at 682.??
Both the men’s and women’s teams have great expectations for the season starting in the upcoming school year. Though significant players will be missed from the team—specifically, Dudeck and Govern—team coaches Steve Stetson and Lauren Cupp remain confident in their current and future team members for more successes to come.
These sentiments are echoed around members of both the men’s and women’s team. Scott said, “Things look promising for next year. We’ve got a solid group of guys and have shown that we are close to really contending for the title.” Looking forward to next fall, the team believes that they can contend with the rest of the NESCAC. All the team needs is “a little momentum. Next year we could find ourselves at the top of the leaderboard. 13 strokes really isn’t that much to make up,” added Scott. Govern also feels that the women “had a fantastic season... we really supported each other a lot.” She added that on behalf of the whole team, we are really thankful for everything [Dudeck] has done; we wouldn’t be here without her.” After a nice long summer break, the Continentals will take to the greens again next fall.
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