While several other schools have already been putting away on the greens since the beginning of last month, the Cornell golf team finally hit the links for its first tournament this past weekend.
Playing at the Towson Invitational on the Great Hope Golf Course, the Red finished 16th out of 18 teams, shooting a combined 659.
Navy claimed first overall, scoring a 591, seven strokes ahead of Colgate.
“Our team didn’t fare well this weekend, but I’m certain that with a little practice and a little patience, we’ll do better,” said junior Dave Nayak.
During the course of the Towson event, it was Nayak who led the Red. After shooting an 82 on Saturday, he came back the next day with an impressive 78.
As for the rest of the squad, both senior Connor Brownell and sophomore Ross LaFleur shot 167 on the weekend, followed by senior Frank Ross (169) and Justin Watzka (174).
“I’m confident in all our games,” Nayak assured, adding, “And I’m sure that we’ll have success in the upcoming tournaments we play.”
Cornell didn’t have much luck earlier this season with the Ithaca weather, and consequently wasn’t able to log much practice time before its first tournament. But the bad weather apparently followed the Red to Maryland, where it was 40 degrees, raining, and windy. And according to Nayak, the nasty conditions made playing even more difficult.
“The course was very wet, and it played really long,” Nayak explained.
Only one other Ivy League team took part in the tournament —