2012 Team Rosters The College of Saint Rose Name
Yr.
Hometown/High School
Seth Adams
Jr.
Schenectady, N.Y. / Christian Brothers
Chad Baxter
Jr.
Binghamton, N.Y. / Harpursville
Brandon Bush
Jr.
Broadalbin, N.Y. / Broadalbin-Perth
John Young
So.
Mechanicville, N.Y. / Mechanicville
Head Coach: Scott Warren
By Harry Kirkpatrick, Bentley University September 13, 2012 Hello, readers! I’m writing this entry following the Franklin Pierce Invitational. Predicting a golf season based on the prior year is an impossible task. As only five players are competing for each school at a given tournament, a team can get by with seniority without any real depth behind them. For that reason, a conference champion one year can easily be in the bottom half of the conference the next. Because of this unpredictability, any team could shock the conference and pull out a win at the first tournament. Despite the hazy picture my team has of our competition, we are confident we will start the year strong. The practice round is cut short because of monsoon conditions as the Bentley golf team seeks shelter back at the hotel despite this blogger’s plea to keep playing. I love playing in the rain. In Scotland, where the game was invented, rain is the norm. We play all year in horrible weather, especially as winter approaches, but I don’t mind. Saturday, however, I am overruled. Sunday morning, the first day of the tournament, begins with blue skies. We have an afternoon tee time and get to the course early to warm up. I see many competitors I haven’t seen in a few months and we catch up before the round. In college golf, five players play for each team and each team counts the best four scores. For example, if a team has scores of 74, 75, 76, 77, and 85, it totals 302 and excludes the score of 85. We have brought a veteran squad to this event with captains Matt Michel and Dan McQueen leading the way followed by myself, sophomore Quincy Coulter, and newly found freshman Zach Pollard. After one round, the Bentley Golf Team is in third place with a 301. McQueen rolled in with a solid 70 to lead our squad. Behind him, Quincy fired a 74 that included three birdies in a row. Matt shot a steady 75, right behind Quincy. Zach and I shot disappointing 82’s, mine including a 7 on Bretwood’s signature hole, an island green par-3. So. New Hampshire fired its best round in years - a 293 to pace the field. Rounding out the top three was American Int’l at 299. Not out of it yet, our team relaxed before a quick turnaround for an 8:30 tee time the next day. Zach rolled a few putts on the carpet in the hallway, trying to figure out his putting woes. I was disappointed with my round, but felt I was only a few shots away from a solid round. That’s how golf is though; one bad shot can handicap a player’s momentum. The final day of the tournament has a much higher sense of urgency than the first. The leaders seem on edge and the rest of the teams seem hungry. We are grouped with American Int’l, Nyack, and So. New Hampshire for the final round and I am playing with Ben Mann from AIC for the second straight day.
Southern New Hampshire University Name Jeff Atkinson Nicholas Burke Cody Carlson Vince Kimball Ernie Lupi Scott Underhill
Yr. Sr. Jr. Jr. Jr. So. Jr.
Hometown/High School Lancaster, N.H./White Mountains Reg. Sandwich, Mass. / Sandwich Wellesley, Mass. / Framingham Lebanon, N.H. / Lebanon Bradford, Mass. / Haverhill Bedford, N.H. / Manchester West
Head Coach: Matt Arvanitis
Chatting on the first tee, both of us are ready to better our showing from the first day. Watching Dan and Matt tee off, though, I feel like something is a bit off with one of my captains. Dan has missed the first fairway wide left, a side he avoids like the plague. Although he makes a spectacular par, I know he doesn’t have his “A” game. From the first tee, it is apparent that I don’t either. I’m not making crisp contact and, as a result, have to scramble for pars. Battling to help my team, I was able to scratch out a 77. After watching that first tee shot, I wasn’t surprised to find out that Dan was off all day and didn’t play how he would have liked. Bentley Golf’s chances for a win were effectively over when Dan, Matt, and I could only fire 80, 74, and 77, respectively. However, our freshman stud Zach fired a 74 to keep us in the top 2. American Int’l sealed the deal with a 68 from a freshman, Ramon Ventura-Camp, and cruised to the victory. It was truly a champion effort under the gun. When looking back over our tournament, we could readily find one hole that doomed Bentley golf. The par three 13th is a relatively short hole with one defense -- the green is surrounded on all sides by water. The first day, my round was undone by a seven. The other three counted rounds (Dan, Matt, and Quincy) played the hole even (three pars). The second day our top four played the hole five over (two double bogeys, one bogey, and one par). For the two days we lost nine shots on the diabolical little hole, and we lost the tournament by five shots. After the round we went back out to the hole to see if our captain, Dan, could play a ricochet shot off the rock wall surrounding the green and hit the ball backwards onto the green. Below is a picture of Danny attempting the unlikely shot with the team looking on, and if you look closely you can see the ball in the upper left hand corner of the photo.