Men's golf wins only home meet

With the end of school barely visible on the horizon, the men's and women's golf teams headed their separate ways this weekend to compete in their last regular-season tournaments.

The men rounded out the regular season with their first win of the year, which they hope will give them an extra boost of confidence heading into the Ivy League Championships next weekend.

The women's squad was slightly less successful, placing fourth in the highly competitive James Madison Invitational.

The Tiger men, hosting the 2004 Princeton Invitational last weekend, beat some of the nation's top competition to emerge victorious. Princeton ended the weekend at 583, 15 strokes over par. The showing was low enough to barely shake off a talented Towson squad, which posted a score of 587 to take second.

Georgetown, Temple, George Washington and Rutgers each trailed the Tigers by 12 strokes, proving that Princeton is ready for the upcoming Ivy and NCAA tournaments.

"The win gives us a ton of confidence heading into Ivies," head coach Will Green said. "Playing a solid tournament against a highly competitive field gives us momentum, and we'll try to build on that momentum with a good week of practice before next Friday."

Though the team's depth is impressive and crucial to its success, the Tigers will depend upon this season's traditional stars in the postseason, as they did in last weekend's victory.

Sophomore Jason Gerken, who led the entire field in birdies and in par-five scoring, was Princeton's top finisher with an even-par 142. His strong final round rocketed him to a second-place tie, behind only Navy's Billy Hurley, who finished three strokes under par at 139. Junior Creighton Page claimed fourth place with a 143 finish, one over par. Sophomore John Locke also delivered, earning ninth place with a 146.

"I had said last week that the key to winning would be to have two players at or under par and have the other three play solidly," Green said. "And that's exactly what we got this weekend."

This success bodes well for the Tigers as they battle for their 21st Ivy League Championship next weekend at Metedeconk Golf Club in Jackson. Metedeconk is a notoriously difficult course with narrow fairways and challenging greens. "We'll want to play with patience, looking to make as many pars as we can and eliminating mistakes that might lead to big numbers," Green said.

Dukes take the throne

Meanwhile, the Princeton women traveled to Virginia for a three-round tournament. The Tigers finished with 920 strokes, 26 strokes behind their victorious hosts, JMU, who took the title with a score of 894.

Senior Avery Kiser turned in the best Tiger performance, placing 10th at 10 over par. The individual winner of the tournament, Jayme Langford, who hails from JMU, completed the three rounds seven strokes ahead of Kiser. Langford is just one of several stars who have led the Dukes to five crowns this year.

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Kiser, who tied with three other players this weekend, has been one of the women's strongest players and will be expected to perform equally as well at the Ivy League Championships next weekend in Trenton.

Junior Meg Nakamura and freshmen Sharla Cloutier and Caitlin Sullivan also played well. Nakamura came in 15th at 14 over par, while Cloutier and Sullivan posted 15- and 28-over-par scores, respectively. Junior Taryn Halady, who was Princeton's fourth highest finisher at 24 over par, was the Tigers' only individual competitor, not figuring into the team total.

Looking ahead

Heading into this weekend's tournament, the Princeton game plan was to attack the course with consistency and to expect stellar performances from the top players. While the Tigers emerged with a fourth-place finish, they will need finish with lower totals if they wish to be successful in next week's Ivies.

The team certainly has the talent to grab an Ivy League title; the only question is whether the golfers will swing consistently when game day comes.

This past weekend provided both Tiger teams with insight into what they might expect next weekend and what they will need to fine tune at practice throughout the week.