The varsity golf team finished off the season with its final tournament from Oct. 22 to Oct. 24 in Brewster, Mass. After a season of ups and downs, the team was able to make a second day comeback in order to place 32nd overall out of over 40 teams. The Judges played well and many of the team members scored their personal bests for the season.
The first day of the tournament was supposed to have a bad forecast with the possibility of some rain. The bad weather never came and the temperatures even reached into the 60s, helping the golfers perform at their optimum levels. The Judges scored well that day and were able to pull out a combined score of 341. This was good enough to put them in 37th out of the 43 teams present at the championship competition for the first round. The Brandeis team had a few holes that they admit they may have mangled, but they were able to make a rally on the second day.
During the final round of the competition, the Judges totaled only 326 strokes, 15 strokes better then their previous round of competition. After the totals were in, the Judges ended up with 32nd place overall.
Aaron Hattenbach 09 led the Judges with 83 strokes the first day and 81 the second. Alex Botwick 08 was just behind Hattenbach with 84 strokes the first day and 83 in the second round, while Jeffery Stein 08 really pulled through for the Judges during the tournament. Stein posted 89 strokes on the first day but was later able to score an impressive 79 in the second round. This helped improve Brandeiss score and put the Judges ahead of some solid competition.
The team felt very good about ending the season strong, especially since they considered the course to be relatively difficult. Hattenbach also discovered a strategy that he plans on utilizing in future competitions. Said Hattenbach, I found out this weekend that in this game, you have to go shot by shot and not think about the past holes or future ones, or else you mentally can crack. Hattenbach went on to explain that he was very satisfied with the teams performance, especially on the second day. The second day team score shows that we are capable of competing with most of the DIII teams in New England.
This competition was the final tournament for the golf team this fall. It has been a season with ups and downs for many on the squad. Still, it is invigorating to have had such a successful last competition and it gives the team many areas to improve upon during the off-season until the season begins anew in the spring.
