Men's golf turns in strong performance at weekend cup

The Princeton men’s golf team continues its strong open to the season, netting a second place finish at the Quechee Collegiate Invitational hosted by Dartmouth in Vermont. It is the second tournament of the season for the Tigers, who just finished competing at Duke’s Rod Myers Invitational a week earlier.

Princeton finished a respectable 2017 campaign last year, netting third in the Ivy League Championships behind Harvard and Cornell. Senior Alex Dombrowski, who took second in the Ivy League tournament, and junior Michael Davis, the sixth-place finisher and a PING all-Northeast regional honoree, anchored a strong Princeton spring team. While Princeton suffered attrition from senior graduation, including the formidable Dombrowski, they also welcomed a strong, four-person freshman class to the program: Sam Clayman, Jake Mayer, Jack Roberts, and Guy Waterhouse.

The Tigers opened their fall season with the Rod Myers Invitational hosted by Duke, where they faced a formidable field. Facing off against Duke, as well as three teams ranked in the top 20 (Vanderbilt, Oregon, and Wake Forest), the Tigers fought hard and finished twelfth, with sophomore Evan Quinn the top Tiger performer. Last weekend, Princeton found itself on more equal footing in the Quechee tournament, facing off against a fourteen team field that included, among others, Harvard, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown. The Tigers were represented by three of the four incoming first-years on the team as well as Davis, Quinn, and sophomore Vinay Ramesh.

Princeton ran out to a strong start, ending Saturday ranked third behind Harvard and Cornell, with both Quinn and Clayman leading the field with par under one. An even stronger performance on Sunday, however, boosted the Tigers to second place in the tournament. Princeton’s rally was spurred again by the indomitable Quinn with par under two; Quinn finished the tournament tied for first. Fellow sophomore Ramesh hit par under one and finished tied for third, while newcomer Jake Mayer tied for seventh by breaking even. As a team, the Tigers finished par under five and narrowly missed winning the tournament outright. They were stymied by Drexel’s Aaron Fricke, who tied with Quinn and helped allow the Dragons to leapfrog five places in the standings to a first place overall finish in the tournament.

The Tigers’ next tournament is another northeast regional competition, where they’ll duel six more Ivy League teams in a sixteen-team field for the MacDonald cup. Coming off a promising end to the Quechee tournament, all eyes are on Princeton to continue excelling in what looks to be a stalwart season.