Tom Kite, John Daly, Tiger Woods, and the Cornell University golf team — all four could be winners at the En-joie golf course after this weekend, when Cornell participates in the Binghamton Invitational.
Still, when Woods played there as part of the PGA Tour in 1996, he never had it quite like this.
“The course just has a phenomenal layout, but it’s just in really bad condition this time of year,” said junior Kevin Scelfo. “It’s a shame because it’s such a nice layout. It’s not like our course, which is always in such nice shape.”
The course’s conditions have caused problems in the past.
“I remember playing last year, hitting deep shots that just didn’t go in because it bounced off a frustration hole,” said Seclfo. “But everyone’s playing the same course, so you’ve got to put up with it.”
Eventually, the course conditions shouldn’t be a problem anymore. The En-joie course is currently undergoing construction on 18 new holes, yet it’s not the renovations, it’s the extreme fall weather that causes the course’s issues. The cold upstate New York conditions have continually plagued the Red at Binghamton. While it typically affects the fairways and greens, last year it also affected the golfers.
“It was god awful,” recalled Scelfo of the weather. “It was like 35 and raining. It’s just tough to play golf like that because of all the layers.”
While Scelfo and the team are expecting poor conditions this weekend, they won’t be anything close to those experienced last year. The competition, however will have a familiar look.
After finishing sixth at the Keenan Invitational, and fifth at Cornell’s own, the Red is looking to continue its upward progress. That task will prove a challenge, however, as doing so will require the Red to leapfrog several teams that have continually bested it. Binghamton currently sits at the top of that group.
On Sept. 28, the golf team had one of its best finishes to date, taking fifth on its own Robert Trent Jones course. Binghamton did better.
Shooting 293 in their final round, the Bearcats eeked out their third first-place finish at the Cornell Invite. In doing so, Binghamton rallied past Loyola for its second title of the fall. The team will look to build on this win and dominate at home.
The Red, however, knows what it needs to do to win. The Red needs to shoot consistently.
“What we’ve done poorly all year is finish,” said Scelfo.
“I don’t really know what causes it,” he added. “I know I’ve done it a couple of times, and I’m not tired, I can concentrate … it just keeps happening. It just keeps happening to our team.”
Scelfo also noted head coach Matt Baughn’s advice regarding the issue.
“He tells us to keep concentrating,” Scelfo said. “That probably is the cause. After being out there for so long, you just make one bad swing and it’s all over.”
Still, Scelfo is optimistic that the team will overcome the problem, noting that it might even happen this weekend.
“We seem to put up one good round every week that says we can stay with everyone, but we seem to lose it on another round,” he explained. “We’re looking forward to a win … If we just keep playing like we’re playing and make just one or two mistakes, we should do pretty well.”
Archived article by Matt Janiga