Golf Preview | Revamped golf team anticipates big season

    After the rollercoaster year it witnessed in 2007, the golf team hopes that the transition into 2008 will produce a smoother ride.
    Last year, coach Bob Sheldon's squad had an up-and-down fall season, posting some solid finishes  —  including a first-place showing at the Husson Tournament in Orono, Maine — yet failed to qualify for the sport's first-ever NESCAC Tournament. Once more, the season-closing New England Championships also slipped away from the Jumbos, who couldn't follow up on a highly impressive third-place mark after one day of play and found themselves in 25th place at the tournament's conclusion.
    Needless to say, the team knows that it has some rebuilding in store if it wants to improve on its late-season disappointments. The roster experienced a major turnover this year with the graduation of senior tri-captains Dave Hunt (E '08), Mike O'Neil (LA '08) and the low-scoring Pat Sullivan (LA '08).
    But the team is confident that senior captain Phil Haslett, along with classmate Benjie Moll, will fill the leadership role, helping Tufts become one of the top teams in the NESCAC.
    "Even though we lost three great players, we think we have a great group of guys," Haslett said. "We're a younger team, but we have confidence built up because we have played all the courses last year."
    The Jumbos will rely on the play of their underclassmen as well, as sophomores Danny Moll and Luke Heffernan both hope to continue to perform in a similarly impressive manner to last year. With a year of experience under its belt, the duo, as well as veteran juniors Brett Hershman and Brad Dreisbach, will need to assume prominent roles if the team is to succeed this season.
    "Returning players from last year will need to play well throughout the season," Heffernan said. "We are really looking for guys competing for the fourth and fifth spots to step up."
    In accordance with tournament regulations, each team brings five players to each event, with the top four scores from each round counting toward the cumulative total for the tournament. And while the team may not have had an overwhelming number of people try out, the Jumbos feel that posting four solid scores per tournament remains well within their reach.
    "Although there wasn't a great turnout during tryouts, all we need is five guys," Haslett said. "And if those five guys can shoot four low scores, which I'm confident we can do, this team will be very successful."
    The Jumbos will also have team chemistry to their advantage, something the players say has allowed them to push each other to shoot lower scores in practice.
    "Everyone's playing real well in practices," Hershman said. "We're a close knit group; there's a lot of camaraderie and a great team dynamic."
    "Our team strengths are that we enjoy playing golf day in and day out," Heffernan said. "We go out there to have fun, and in order to put together consistently low rounds, you need to be relaxed. As much as we want to win, we realize that being out there competing is a privilege unto itself."
    Still, the team balances this relaxed attitude with a healthy desire to put the program on the map.
    "We're trying to join the ranks of the elite teams in the Northeast," Hershman said.
    With five tournaments scheduled for the fall season, the Jumbos will have ample opportunities to do just that. Tufts will travel to competitions all over the Northeast before landing in Brewster, Mass. for the New England Championships, held Oct. 19-21. Its first competition is the upcoming Bowdoin Invitational, which will take place this weekend in Brunswick, Maine.
    Last year, led by Sullivan, who earned medalist honors after posting the lowest individual score in the field, Tufts placed third out of 13 teams to kick off the fall 2007 season.
    "We played well in this tournament last year, so we've got confidence coming in," Haslett said. "Everyone's been putting up low scores in practice for the last week and a half as well."