Last weekend, men’s golf won the Williams Fall Invitational with a total of 588, beating 20 universities.
On a windy Saturday at the Taconic Golf Club, the Ephs turned in a strong first round performance to take a seven-shot lead at their home event.
Co-captain Sam Goldenring ’20 and Beau David ’21 led the charge for the Ephs on what was a tough day all around, as evidenced by the relatively high scoring. Goldenring shot a 2-under 69 to lead the individual event. David turned in a 1-over 72, trailing Goldenring by three shots and tying for second on the day.
David Brewer ’22 continued his strong play from last weekend’s team victory at Middlebury with a 76, another key piece to the Ephs’ day-one lead. Despite some consistently strong plays, Ben Beiers ’20 endured occasional stumbles throughout the day and eventually turned in a 79. Co-captain Jake Foehl ’19 shot 80. Everyone was in the top 50 for individuals.
Tucker van Eck ’21 and John Menton ’22 represented the team as individuals. Despite losing a ball on his first hole that appeared to be in clear sight and playable, Van Eck held it together to finish his day with 83. Menton struggled all day, shooting 90.
The Ephs led the team event after Saturday with a day-one total of 296 (+12), joined by second place Babson at 303 (+19), third place Tufts at 304 (+20) and fourth place Husson at 305 (+21). The Williams “B” team sat at 14th with a day-one total of 326 (+42), looking to make a move into the top ten.
“[It] was a rough day, but we fought hard, and we [went] into Sunday confident and with the lead,” Van Eck said after the round.
On Sunday, the Ephs ran riot to defend their home course.
Goldenring put in another excellent performance with an even-par 71 and was backed up by another 71 from Foehl. The pair have spent many years on Taconic as legacies of the College.
Foehl and Goldenring’s 71s were joined by another round from David, a 3-over 74. David continued to build on some strong ball striking en route to a relatively stress-free round that looked solid throughout.
Despite a tough four-hole stretch when he played 6-over, Brewer battled all day and played the rest of his round in 1-under on his way to an eventual 76 (+5). After his first four rounds as an Eph, Brewer continues to justify head coach Josh Hillman’s faith in him and his decision to put the first-year straight into the lineup. Beiers also managed a decent round of 79, but his score was dropped on the back of strong play from the team as a whole.
The team’s 292 Sunday total was a four-stroke improvement from day one. The final team score of 588 (+20) sealed a whopping 17-stroke victory over second-place Husson at 605 (+37).
Goldenring’s score of 2-under 140 was the only under-par score in the field and sealed Goldenring’s second straight individual victory by a comfortable five shots. This was also Goldenring’s second Williams Invitational victory. Already, Goldenring appears an early contender for NESCAC Player of the Year and shows no sign of slowing down as he looks to lead the Ephs to more victories in the near future.
As for the Williams “B” Team, DeLano was the story of the day as he turned in a great round of 73 (+2) to lead the “B” Team in its charge up the leaderboard. DeLano’s 73 was aided by another pair of strong performances from VanBelle and Wyatt Khosrowshahi ’21, who finished with 76 and 77, respectively. Beischer added an 81 along with an 82 from William Conyers ’21 to round out the scoring.
The “B” team’s solid Sunday play culminating with a 307 aggregate brought them into a 10th place finish at 633 (+67), their goal heading into the day.
“The whole team played well and battled hard this weekend,” Hillman said. “Saturday was a very tough day, so it was important we stayed patient and did our job. [Sunday], they went out and played great, smart golf and capitalized when they could. Goldenring continued to play really solid golf, picking up his second individual win in just two starts. Once again I was impressed with how mature the guys were out there. When we got some bad breaks, we rolled with it, and when we were making good shots and getting good breaks, we remained calm and didn’t get too jacked up. It was fun to watch.”
This win marks the second straight victory for the Ephs as well as Goldenring’s second consecutive individual win.The men are back in action at NESCAC Fall Qualifiers this weekend at Wesleyan on Saturday and Sunday.
Meanwhile, the seven players not heading to Wesleyan will play a match against Amherst on Saturday.
