The men's golf team heads to Virginia this weekend for the Georgetown Hoya Invitational, coming off its best showing of the year at last weekend's Penn/Big Five Invitational.
The Tigers, who had led the tournament after Saturday, fell to second on Sunday after a final round rally by Georgetown. This weekend will mark the final tournament in their fall season and a final chance to secure a first place finish in a rematch against the Hoyas.
"Although second place as a team is a good finish, we were somewhat disappointed with this result," freshman Brent Herlihy said.
Herlihy shot rounds of 72 and 74 to finish four-over par and place second. Herlihy has had an inconsistent fall, playing great rounds made bittersweet by mediocre showings. Sunday found Herlihy atop the leader board and with a real chance to win the tournament. One over going into the 15th hole, he would bogie 15 and 16 to finish two strokes off the lead.
Final round meltdown
Junior Creighton Page, who led the tournament Saturday with a round at even par, found his score balloon on Sunday. Ten over par in the last round left Page tied for ninth overall. Page's struggle with putting was felt by the entire Tiger team in the last round. Princeton was unable to adjust to high winds and difficult pin positions.
"We just played mediocre golf on Sunday," head coach Will Green said.
Sophomore Jason Gerken and freshman John Sawin finished the tournament sixth and 29th, respectively.
"This was the only tournament in my year and a half on the team in which we held a lead after the first round of play, so it was very disappointing to blow it on the second day," Gerken said. "Before we chalk up the fall season as a 'disaster,' we have one more tournament to play. It will be interesting to see how we fare in this tournament."
The Tigers have succeeded at Georgetown in the past, breaking a scoring record last year. Still, with a lack of practice during midterm week and cold weather setting in, performing well could be a struggle. The Tigers, having defeated all Ivy League opponents at Penn, hope to expand their reach outside the league.
A win or even a second-place finish this weekend will put Princeton in good position in the District 2 rankings going into the spring season. The Tigers have their sights set on winning the league championship, held in the fall, and garnering one of the four automatic exemptions into the NCAA Tournament granted to District 2. Princeton has had difficulty scheduling tournaments with teams in its region, as the region reaches as far south as Virginia, as far north as Cornell and as far west as Pittsburgh.
Going for four
The women will spend fall break in Florida competing in the Pat Bradley Invitational at the famed Doral Golf Club in Miami. With three first-place finishes in their season the Tigers hope to finish the fall strong at a tournament which will include some of their most fierce competition to date.
With twelve teams competing including Florida Atlantic, Florida International and Illinois the Tigers will match up against some of the most dominant schools in the Big 10. Last year the Tigers set the Princeton all-time scoring record at the Pat Bradley Invitational.
"We are going to have our hands full," head coach Eric Stein said. "But this is going to be a very special opportunity to play outside our district to fine tune our game."
The Tigers head to Miami after a shootout organized by Stein last week at Springdale Golf Course to determine who would lead the Tigers in Florida. Freshman Sharla Cloutier led the pack with a 71 followed by junior captain Avery Kiser with a 75 and Meg Nakamura coming in third. All three women have led the Tigers to victory in one tournament this fall pointing to the depth of this squad.
For Cloutier, a Florida native, playing Doral will be something of a second chance. Forced to withdraw from her last tournament at Doral due to a dancing injury during her senior year of high school, she will now return as a freshman leading the most dominant team in the Ivy League.
"It's going to be the most competition we've seen all year," Cloutier said. "But you only get better playing teams that can push you to go further."
The Tigers will return from fall break only to head indoors as the weather grows cold.
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