The men's golf team has lost something. For the first time in three years, the Tigers start their season without the Ivy League trophy. After three consecutive Ivy League victories, from 2000 to '02, the Tigers relinquished the title last year to Yale, coming in third behind Penn. More than ever there is a palpable yearning for the Ivy title.
"This year is interesting for us — for once we are not the defending Ivy League champs, and we all badly want that trophy back in the spring," sophomore Jason Gerken said.
On Saturday Princeton starts on the long road to regaining the Ivy Crown with its first match of the year at the James Madison Invitational in Harrisonburg, Va.
While Ivies are still not until late spring, the Tigers will have a formidable schedule to battle through during the fall. Starting with the James Madison Invitational on Sept. 20, the Tigers will have to compete not only against national golf powerhouses such as Maryland but some of the toughest courses in the nation.
This year's JMU tournament will be a 54-hole event, with 36 holes played on Saturday and 18 holes played on Sunday. The par-71, 6,497 yard Lakeview Golf Course requires accurate placement of shots for low scores, according to JMU Head Coach Paul Gooden. Last fall Penn State took home the team crown with a school record score of 280-269-271=820, but will not be in attendance this year. Other notable contenders in the field of nineteen include local rival Rutgers, Georgetown and Ivy League rival Penn. While Penn did beat the Tigers in last year's Ivy League Championship, the Quakers have lost three key players to graduation. Perhaps most threatening will be host JMU, whose Jay Woodson has been described by Princeton head coach Will Green as the best player on the east coast.
Later in the fall the Tigers will be facing the likes of the Bethpage Red Course. Princeton golfers will quickly remember what Bethpage Black did to the likes of another Tiger —Tiger Woods — during the 2002 U.S. Open. While the Red course is not nearly as long as the Black, it shares many similarities that will make it one of the toughest tracks for the Tigers this year. Tough courses combined with some of the most difficult opponents of the season will no doubt make this fall a trying time for Princeton golfers.
"We will see some of the best teams in our district during the first two weeks of the fall," Gerken said, "so we should be able to see immediately how we stack up."
Perhaps spurred on by memories of a spring season at Princeton where practices were few and far between thanks to the snow and rain, head coach Will Green has instituted a significantly more intense practice schedule for the fall. In the past, Princeton golfers often would practice whenever they got out of class, often by themselves with little coaching or team interaction. Now, with both morning and afternoon practices, as well as strength and conditioning exercises, the Tigers head to James Madison next weekend keenly prepared.
"I've tried to introduce more structure to the program and move from individual success to more team-centered goals," Green said.
A well-prepared team will be bolstered by a strong recruiting class in next Saturday's tournament. New to the team this year are freshmen Brent Herlihy, Aaron Louv and John Sawin. Sawin will play alongside some of the teams' more experienced players, competing in his first tournament as a Tiger on Saturday at JMU. Sawin comes to Princeton with significant success on the junior circuit, including a 2002 Philadelphia Boys' Championship title.
"I think it could be our breakout year," senior captain Greg Johnson said. "We have very high expectations for that tournament as well as all the other ones. We have three freshmen that will definitely have an immediate impact on the teams' performance."
Coach Green insists that despite the disappointment of last year's spring, the Tigers are in the best position he has seen in his five years on the coaching staff.
"We are in a position to take a huge step forward," Green said. "We are at a point now where we can not only be dominant in the Ivy League but competitive in the NCAA."
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