This past weekend, the golf team looked to start its fall season on a high note at Colgate’s Alex Lagowitz Memorial in Hamilton, New York. Although the Red finished in last place at the Ivy Championships last spring, the opportunity that comes with a new season has many excited.
“The way that we ended last year definitely left a sour taste in our mouth, but with all the talent we have coming back – six seniors and five sophomores who really improved over the course of the summer – makes us one of the most experienced teams that I’ve ever played on,” said senior Noah Schwartz. “We’re looking to be competitive all year and we have depth from top to bottom.”
After finishing the first round of 18 holes with a score of 12-over par, the Red found itself sitting in 10th place. While it was not the score that the team had hoped for, it bounced back with a great second round, shooting an impressive three-under par.
“Even though we’ve played at Colgate for a while now, the course underwent some massive renovations and three of us had never even seen it before. We knew that there would be a decent adjustment period during that first round for all of us,” Schwartz said. “But we always stayed confident and knew that we could go out there and play well, especially as we got more comfortable with the course and became more aggressive, which helped us shoot lower scores.”
The Red was not as successful on day three as it was on day two, but a very respectable score of two-over propelled it to finish sixth place at the competition, jumping up two spots from its ranking after the second round. Seton Hall won the entire tournament with a score of 23 under, while rival and defending Ivy champion Yale finished in second with a score of 11 under.
Senior Josh Lundmark led the way for the Red in 15th place among all golfers with a combined score of one over, while sophomore Jackson Debusschere finished right behind him at two over in his first collegiate start.
“We got a lot of guys on this team who are going to be competing for wins all year, who have really set themselves apart post-covid,” Schwartz said. “We’re really an incredibly deep roster that’s looking to compete.”
The Red will have a chance to capitalize on its forward momentum in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, at the Cornell/Temple Invitational starting September 17.