by Justin McKinney, Staff Writer
After a successful fall season, UMass Dartmouth golf finished 17th overall in the New England Golf Intercollegiate Championship Division III Tournament.
The tournament was held at the 36 hole Captains Course in Brewster, Massachusetts which has a par of 72.
The Captains Course is considered the premier golf course of Southeastern Massachusetts and the best on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod. The course is situated less than a mile from the Atlantic coast line and is also nestled in a dense forest.
Due to its coastal-forest location, Captain’s Course is known for being windy as well as giving player’s hell when it comes to hitting the fairways; as the fairways are narrow as can be. The tree-lined fairways also make mistargeted shots extremely dangerous as one trip deep into the forest lined fairway outskirts can be misfortunate.
Both these things played a huge role for the Corsairs and every other golfer at the championship due to the fact that the sea-breeze was in full affect. This led to an afternoon of perfectly hit balls being ripped off course by strong winds.
Despite the odds being stacked against him, junior Bryce Mitchell of Beverley led the Corsairs in tournament and finished 46th overall.
Mitchell shot an 86 on day one of the tournament; however on day two, he managed to take eight strokes off his game and shoot a 78.
Sophomore Jackson Mitchell of Marion, MA was the second best finisher for the Corsairs as he shot consecutive 82’s on both days.
Junior Ben Bedarian of Franklin, Mass. finished at 64 for the tournament as he shot 84’s on each day of the tournament.
Jared Fadding a junior of Lennox, Mass. started the tourney at 87 strokes but managed to take four strokes off his game on day two and shoot an 83.
Michael Byron of Bourne, Mass. finished at 88th in the tournament with two straight rounds of 87.
The Corsairs registered a team total of 667 strokes, which as I have already said was good for 17th place in team scores.
In other news outside of the tournament, this past week the Corsairs head Coach Joel Baptista received the NEIGA coach of the year.
The award is decided by a vote involving all coaches in the conference. It is Baptista’s 12th season leading the charge for Corsair men’s golf.
The Corsairs will resume action next March as they begin their spring 2017 season, which will be the last run for the Corsairs lone senior Michael Byron.