The men's golf team earned its third straight top-10 finish Wednesday, placing sixth out of 45 teams at the New England Championships in Brewster, Mass. Brown finished with a two-day score of 614 (302-312), 22 strokes behind first-place University of Rhode Island. The Bears finished second out of the three Ivies at the meet, ahead of Harvard, which finished 11th, but behind Dartmouth, which finished second, 12 strokes ahead of Brown.
"It obviously would have been better to beat Dartmouth, but sixth place isn't too bad," said Larry Haertel '08. "We are having a solid fall season but still haven't achieved the season goal of winning a tournament, so I'd say we have a lot of work still to do".
A big reason for Haertel's disappointment was Brown's second round, in which the team slipped four spots on the leaderboard.
"We were in second place going into the second round of the tournament," he said. "We were hoping to finish second or better and we didn't perform as well as we hoped to."
Although the course showed no ill effects from last week's steady rain, Haertel cited strong wind on Wednesday as a reason for Brown's 10-stroke increase in the second round.
Haertel was Brown's lowest scorer over the two-rounds, carding a 151 (76-75). His performance tied him with three other competitors for 13th.
One stroke behind Haertel was captain Donny Mowlds '06, who tied for 17th with a two-day 152 (76-76).
"Donny Mowlds played really well," Haertel said. "He's always one of our solid players. His leadership really came through over the last two days."
Finishing next for Brown was Danny Wallis '06, who carded a 154 (72-82), tying with five others for 26th place.
Lanny Benson '07 was the Bears' fourth finisher, carding a 157 (78-79). His 13-over-par score left him tied for 42nd.
"We are pleased with the progress of the team, but I feel like we could all be doing a little better right now," Benson said. "I definitely know that I could tear up the course much better than I am right now".
Rounding out the top five was Chris Hoffman '09, who finished tied for 101st after shooting a two-day 164 (81, 83).
With one tournament - the Hartford Invitational on Oct. 22-23 - before breaking for the winter, the team is hoping to build on the success of its three top-10 finishes this year.
"Hopefully we can improve our success from our past three tournaments and end the season on a high note and have some confidence going into our spring season," Haertel said.
- With reporting from Contributing Writer Steele West
