Princeton slogs through break

Kauai, Hawaii, was not the ideal spring break getaway for the men's golf team — torrential rain ended the Kauai Collegiate Cup after only 18 holes of play.

But the Tigers only needed 18 holes to put together an impressive performance, shooting a two-under 286 to place third out of 12 teams in their best finish of the year.

"I'm very satisfied, especially given our previous spring break performances," senior captain Jason Gerken said. "It was our first tournament of the spring, whereas most of the other schools had already played elsewhere."

The top four players shot remarkably well, all scoring within three strokes of each other. Gerken shot a 2-under 70 on Friday, tying for eighth overall. Junior Brent Herlihy shot a one-under 71, tying for 12th. Junior John Sawin parred and finished tied for 16th. Junior Jesse Dixon shot a one-over 73, tying for 24th. Senior John Locke shot a five-over 77, tying for 49th.

Princeton's individual competitors Drew Malinak and Max Schecter, both freshmen, shot a two-under 70 and a three-over 75 respectively.

"I'm not surprised the team was so consistent," Gerken said. "The seven guys on the team are really consistent when we all play well, and fortunately, that showed in Kauai."

Gerken believes Princeton would have improved if they had played all 54 holes.

"We missed second place by one shot, so I'm sure we could've made up that shot," Gerken said. "But Illinois State is a very good team, so we might not have caught them in the next rounds."

Even though the team could have improved, Gerken did not mind that the tournament was canceled.

"I think we were all tired of stopping and starting due to storms," Gerken said. "The course was virtually underwater. We [usually get] off to very good starts in the second round, so it might have helped us to play the full round."

The rain did not stop the Tigers from having a relaxing spring break.

"We stayed in Hawaii all break," Gerken said. "Despite the fact that it was usually raining, it was a very fun trip."

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The women's golf team also had to battle poor weather, finishing eighth in a field of 11 with a 72-over 924 at the Donnis Thompson Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii.

"The course was almost unplayable, with a few holes almost completely underwater," junior Sharla Cloutier said. "Hawaii has been experiencing some very unusual weather for the past month, with tons of rain and storms. We were lucky to get in all 54 holes of the tournament."

The team has placed in the bottom half of the field in its two spring tournaments — in the fall season, the team only placed in the bottom half once.

"We played a lot better [in Hawaii] than in Florida, so we were satisfied in that regard," Cloutier said.

Cloutier placed 11th of 63 golfers, finishing 11-over (76-74-74). Freshman Susannah Aboff tied for 18th with a 14-over 227 (71-79-77). Freshman Marlowe Boukis tied for 33rd at 19-over (78-75-79). Junior captain Alexis Etow was 52nd at 29-over (83-81-78). Sophomore Annika Welander tied for 53rd at 32-over (86-80-79).

Tournament-winner Tennessee, with the top four individual finishers, ran away with the tournament, shooting a four-over 856. Second-place New Mexico finished 38 strokes behind Tennessee.

"Going into it, we just wanted to play our best and enjoy our time out there," Cloutier said. "We knew there were a few really good teams (LSU, Tennessee) and even some internationals (Osaka U., British Columbia) in the field, so we just wanted to play well and see how we stacked up."

To keep up with the big schools, the Tigers hope to improve their endurance.

"We're playing 12 to 15 holes of our rounds just fine, making good pars and birdies," Cloutier said. "We just need to figure out how to play all 18 that way, avoiding big numbers and strings of bogeys. A lot of that is mental."

Beside the challenges, the team had a good vacation. The tournament was on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the team stayed in Hawaii until Saturday night.

"We met a bunch of fun alumni and members of the military and we ran into Michelle Wie on the links on different courses," Cloutier said. "It was definitely the best golf team trip I've ever been on."