Men come in ninth, women take third

After a slow start to the spring season, the women's golf team got back into the swing of things. After finishing near the bottom of the pack at both the Sun Trust Lady Gator Invitational and the Donnis Thompson Invitational, the Tigers came in third out of 15 teams last weekend at the Georgetown Invitational in Leesburg, Va.

"This weekend marked our official start against Ivy League competitors," junior Caitlin Sullivan said. "Especially considering our solid Sunday round of 307, which was second-best in the tournament, we are fired up to play at JMU next weekend and at the Ivies in three weeks."

Junior Sharla Cloutier finished in a three-way tie for second place at +9 (78-75-153), 10 shots back of winner Christy Larrimore of Georgetown. Freshman Marlowe Boukis finished tied for 10th at +14 (83-75-158). Freshman Susannah Aboff tied for 15th at +16 (82-78-160), and Sullivan tied for 31st at +21 (86-79-165). Junior captain Alexis Etow tied for 40th at +24 (82-86-168).

Princeton finished 20 shots behind first-place Georgetown. The Tigers' third-place finish is the best of the spring. But Sullivan emphasized that over the course of the season, team finish is not as important as individual and team development.

"It's always difficult to compare tournament results from week to week since so many variables affect team performance," Sullivan said. "Although our finish was the best of the season, in our minds it's more important to assess the process of ball striking, positive thinking and confidence."

On a week-to-week basis, the Tigers prioritize learning and improvement over team finish.

"Given weather conditions, course playability and the field of competitors, each week should be considered to be a learning experience, with positive components and indications of where we could improve," Sullivan said.

This team emphasis, a strong mentality with a broad perspective, helped its second-round performance.

"Our positive attitudes after a windy outing on Saturday made shooting lower scores feasible on Sunday," Sullivan said. "Our two low scores of 75 from Shara and Marlowe to lead the team's 307 kept us in the hunt."

The strong finish has the team excited for the Ivy League championships.

"Each spring, our main goal is to peak for Ivies," Sullivan said. "With three tournaments completed, we have a good sense of areas for improvement, both individually and as a team, between now and then."

On the men's side

After sprinting out of the blocks to start the spring season, the men's golf team stumbled in the first round at the Drew Upton Invitational in Westover, Md., placing ninth of 22 teams.

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The Tigers recovered from a poor first round, improving from 13th to ninth place in the second round.

"Things looked up after the Kauai tournament [on March 17], but our first round at Towson [on April 1 and 2] was really a shot in the foot," senior captain Jason Gerken said. "We expected to play better than we did."

The team failed to outplay several Ivy League competitors.

"Losing to Columbia and barely beating a few other Ivy teams is unacceptable, so we are all a little upset with the finish," Gerken said. "Still, the scores were bunched and we were only 12 shots out of first, so it's not like we are too far off."

Gerken finished in seventh place at -1 (72-71-143), five shots back of winner Andrew Turner of Liberty. Junior John Sawin was one over, tying for 19th place (74-71-145).

Senior Jesse Dixon was six over (78-72-150), tying for 54th. Freshman Andrew Maliniak was seven over, tying for 66th (74-77-151). Junior Brent Herlihy was 12 over (77-79-156), tying for 99th.

The Tigers' second-day performance was important for team morale.

"The second day push was encouraging psychologically, but we still didn't beat any of the teams we needed to beat," Gerken said. "I think we hit it better in the second round in general, which paid off in the form of fewer mistakes and more birdies."

Despite the strong start to the spring season — with a third and ninth place finish in two tournaments — the team is not yet playing up to its potential.

"I don't think we've hit our stride," Gerken said. "We are too good to count 77s as fourth scores. Until we all score around par, I don't think we've played to our ability. Hopefully this will happen at our Invitational next weekend and continue to the Ivy League Championship."