Tufts dominates at Newbury Invitational

Tufts finished in first place at the Newbury Invitational at Franklin Park in Boston this past Wednesday with a score of 287 -- 10 points lower than Babson, whose team finished second.JuniorOwen Elliott and sophomore Aaron Corn each shot 70, tying them for first place among all competitors. Each of the Jumbos’ five golfers finished in the top 20 and scored +7 as a team.

“This is our head coach’s first season,” Corn said. “It’s been an adjustment, but we’re trending in the right direction. The leadership of senior co-captains Brendan Koh and Jay Wong has been crucial, as well as [Elliott's play], and we have a real chance of cracking the top 10.”

The Jumbos did more than simply crack the top 10; they are now in position to make a run at a top four spot to qualify for the NESCAC championships in the spring -- a feat the Jumbos have never achieved. For now the team members are enjoying their current victory and preparing for their chance to make history when they compete at the NESCAC qualifiers at Williams College on the weekend of Oct. 3.

“It was great to have all the fans come out and support us today,” Elliott said. “It’s a city course, so you get odd bounces and end up in divots, and there is a lot of loud music and other activities going on in the park, which makes it difficult. But I loved it -- I grew up on courses like Franklin Park, so it was still a blast."

“Usually I talk consistency, but yesterday was just awesome,” head coach George Pendergast said. “We were just scoring better than we ever have ... It just all seemed to come together.”

Elliott and Corn led the way, but it was the tremendous skill of fellow teammates, such as sophomore Mike Lefkowitz who shot a 71, Wong who shot a 76 and sophomore Glenn VanWinkle who scored 78, that made the performance so dominant. Playing with such a high level of skill as they move into the most important stretch of the fall season, the Jumbos are confident in their ability to make the postseason for the first time.

“To go to the playoffs you have to crack the top four, and we haven’t done that in a long time, but I think our chances are good this year,” Pendergast said. “There are a couple of teams that are quite a bit ahead of the rest of the NESCAC, but that means if we can beat two of the other teams, which we have, we’ll be in the top four.”

The Jumbos came into Wednesday after finishing 12th out of 25 in the Duke Nelson Invitational at Middlebury this past weekend.Elliott had the high score for Tufts, shooting a 150 over both days, and tied for fourth individually. VanWinkle also played well, shooting a 158 over both days.The Jumbos as a whole shot four strokes better on Sunday, with a total of 319, than they did Saturday. 

“The field was very strong, and there was a ton of wind both days, so overall we played pretty darn well,” Elliott said. “I think we’re pretty happy with our overall team score and, among NESCAC schools, that put us in fifth. We were only a few shots behind Hamilton and Middlebury.”

Tufts’ solid play this weekend, combined with the victory on Wednesday -- its second of 2015 -- has the Jumbos playing their best golf at just the right time.