The Cornell men’s golf team is coming off one of its best seasons ever.
Just a good fall will not be enough to turn this team’s image around, however.
The Red needs to establish a sense of consistency in order to be competitive this upcoming season.
“We’re looking to take our solid fall season and build on it,” said Red senior co-captain Dave Nayak.
In the Stabler Invitational, Cornell’s final tournament of last season, the Red placed a respectable 16th out of 20 squads. Great performances from players such as sophomore Justin Watzka and freshman Jason Howe showed just how much promise this squad has.
The Red hopes to continue this trend.
“[Sophomore] Matt Rymer and Justin Watzka should perform well this season, and hopefully we’ll see consistency from Justin Howe and [senior co-captain] Tim Ross,” said Nayak.
“We’re also happy to welcome back [junior] Ross LaFleur, who had an internship last semester and didn’t play. We expect a lot from him.”
The men have been seeking to fine-tune their games in preparation for their first tournament at Towson University.
“Towson is our first big tournament,” said Nayak. “That’s also where [we will] have our first Ivy League [competition] this season as well.”
Besides the more immediate preparation for the Towson Invitational, the Red has been preparing for the important once-per-year Ivy Tournament, which takes place in Jackson, NJ on April 20th.
“We’re looking forward to playing on some great courses this season,” Nayak remarked.
All the tournaments for the Red are on the road this season. However, the golfers will spend plenty of time on Robert Trent Jones Golf Course preparing for what could be their best season in a long time.
“If the weather cooperates this spring, we can get more practice in [than we usually get this time of year],” said Nayak. “In my sophomore year, it snowed until April. That made practice difficult, to say the least.”
Archived article by Michael Pandolfini