M. golf ends season in tie for fourth at Georgetown

In two battles that pitted the men's and women's golf teams against some of the top golfers in the nation, the difficult level of competition and sub-par weather conditions combined for an exciting conclusion to the fall season for the Tigers.

The women ended the Pat Bradley Invitational in second place, while the men tied for fourth in the rain-shortened Hoya Invitational.

The men finished with a combined score of 295 and tied with James Madison at seven-over par in Leesburg, Va. Perennial regional leader, Penn State, beat the field for first place; the Tigers also fell to Richmond and Georgetown, which finished second and third, respectively.

"We played okay the first round," senior captain Greg Johnson said. "We were missing the one guy who shoots lights out, but it was a solid effort."

The Tigers have struggled all fall to achieve consistency, often relying only on sophomore Jason Gerken and junior Creighton Page to carry the team. Gerken again led the Tigers, posting a ninth-place finish at Georgetown. While struggling off the tee, he made a series of clutch putts on increasingly difficult greens to end the tournament at even par. Johnson tied Gerken and two other competitors for ninth at 72. Unfortunately, no other Tiger could break into the top 20, with freshman John Sawin tied for 23rd and Page tied for 30th.

Things seemed to be turning around for the Tigers during the second day of the tournament with nearly all the Tigers performing better than their first round. With more than half of the holes already played, the skies opened up leaving the course unplayable.

"It was a huge disappointment not to be able to play the second round because we were right in the hunt of the tournament," Johnson said. "Three of our biggest rivals were right there in front of us, and we were hoping to beat them all, which would have been a great way to end the fall season."

Such an end was not to be as officials decided to discount all holes played during the second round, leaving the field stuck with only their first round performances.

The men will play as much golf at Springdale Golf Club as weather permits and then head into Dillon Gym to work on strength training and conditioning. Princeton has a state of the art virtual reality golf simulator that the golfers can use throughout the winter to work on striking the ball. Each golfer is expected to train over the Winter Break as the team has no official winter training trip.

"We are really going to need to work on not falling apart at the end like we usually do," Gerken said. "But with Yale's best player quitting and Penn losing everyone, we are confident for an Ivy win in May."

The women certainly got the better deal both on and off the course as they competed in the Pat Bradley Invitational in sunny Miami, Fla. They challenged some of the top Big 10 schools on the Greg Norman designed Doral "Great White" course. Replete with 12 water holes and 237 sand bunkers, the Tigers also faced some intense prevailing winds making a difficult course nearly impossible.

"Even Pat Bradley herself, an LPGA Hall of Fame Pro, commented on how extreme the conditions were and how amazed she was with our ability to succeed despite them," junior Meg Nakamura said.

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The Tigers, who ended the first day in third place and the second day in fourth, rallied during the final round to finish three strokes behind tournament host and winner, Florida International — a second-place finish in a field of 13.

Princeton was again led by what has become one of the most dominant trios in the Ivy League — junior Avery Kiser, freshman Sharla Cloutier and Nakamura. While Kiser and Cloutier vied for the top spot among the Tigers throughout the three-day tournament, Kiser would finish the tournament six strokes off the lead in fifth place. Cloutier tied for seventh and Nakamura finished 14th. Nakamura struggled during the first two rounds but climbed the leaderboard on the final day with a team low 73 helping propel the team past Florida Southern and Longwood University. The Tigers began their final round behind both schools.

The women will now also head indoors to work with the simulator and in the weight room for the winter.

"We hope to keep in good shape which, we hope, will translate into increased consistency in the spring," Nakamura said.