2008 Men's Golf Season Outlook

Last spring Rick Pohle's young Eph golf team ended a two-year absence from the NCAA Tournament by winning the NESCAC title April in Kensington, Conn., and capturing the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. In their 10th NCAA Tournament appearance under head coach Rick Pohle the Ephs finished tied for 24th in a field of 35.

A record of 108-43 in fall and spring play last year earned Rick Pohle the Eaton Pride Northeast Region Coach of the Year award.

This year Pohle will have seven of his top eight players back to make another run at the NCAA Tournament, having lost only Brendan Conley to graduation.

First the Ephs will need to finish in the top four at the NESCAC Qualifier to be played at the Ralph Myhre Golf Course at Middlebury College September 28 and 29 to advance to the NESCAC Championships. The team that wins the NESCAC Qualifier will host the four-team NESCAC Championships April 25 and 26 to determine the conference's participant in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

Last fall Pohle's Ephs finished third in the fall NESCAC Qualifier with a two-day total of 614, eight shots behind the winner Trinity. The third place finish earned the Ephs a spot in the NESCAC Championships Tournament hosted by Trinity at Shuttle Meadow in Kensington, Conn., in the spring. The Ephs opened up a 13 shot lead on the field on day one of the NESCAC Tournament and finished the two-day event with a 12-shot margin of victory.

John Killea '11

As first years last fall Jake Wagner (150), John Killea (151) and Bob Camp (154) led the Eph charge in the NESCAC Qualifier as all three finished in the top 12. Also back from last year's NESCAC Qualifier team is senior Tyler Zara who shot a 168.

Wagner earned All-NESCAC First Team Honors, while Killea and Camp both collected Second Team All-NESCAC honors last fall. In the spring Wagner and Killea received the additional honor of being named to the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-Northeast Region Team.

Drew Murray, Robert Kalb and Jack Wadden join Wagner, Killea and Camp to complete the talented Class of 2011, which is arguably the most talented class in Pohle's 26 years at Williams. Murray finished his first year at Williams in a strong fashion with solid efforts at the NESCAC Championship and the NCAA Tournament.

"Our sophomore class will look to continue their dominance that was displayed last season," stated Pohle. Each of them has their strong playing aspects, but I believe their strength lies in their support of each other. They are a close knit bunch of athletes."

Supporting the talented sophomore class will be senior co-captains Tyler Zara and Matt Felser. This duo is tournament tested and will be counted on to help steady and lead the young Ephs. An important role for both Felser and Zara is teaching the younger Ephs how to compete.

Last year Felser spent the fall semester studying abroad, but returned in time to post a solid spring campaign and help the Ephs secure the NCAA Tourney bid and then played in the tourney.

Felser carded a 73 on the first day of the NESCAC Championships and then followed that up with 74 for a two-day total of 147, third best on the Ephs.

Zara, an All-NESCAC selection in 2006, was a key player in getting the Ephs into the NESCAC Qualifier and competed at the NCAA Tournament.

"I have been fortunate to have strong co-captains over the years and I think Tyler and Matt will rank up there with the best," said Pohle. "They are very good friends and dedicated to improving their games. They lead by example and are well respected by the underclassmen. Above their leadership skills both players love to compete and that is a quality that often doesn’t show up in the stat sheets."

Drew Murray '11

On day one of the NESCAC Championships Murray opened with a 38 on the front nine and then shot a glittering 32 on the back nine to post a score of 70, placing him second.

The steady Felser had the best front nine on the opening day of the NESCAC Tourney when he carded a 36, but the rest of the Ephs stepped up their game on the back nine to build a 13-shot first day lead.

John Killea matched the 32 on the back nine compiled by Murray and Jake Wagner added a 36, while Felser and Conley both carded 37s.

Sometimes a first day big lead is a negative, but it was not last spring as the Ephs held their big lead at the end of day one and their focus and ended up winning the tournament by a comfortable margin. Consistent play throughout the lineup on day two secured the NCAA bid for the Ephs as all five Eph players shot 76 or better. Felser and Killea had 74s and Murray, Wagner and Conley fired 76s.

The Ephs got off to a great start in the NCAA Tournament and placed 13th after day one with a team score of 313. Drew Murray led the way with a 73, followed by Jake Wagner (75), Conley (82) Felser (83) and Zara (83).

The Ephs slipped from 13th to a tie for 24th place on day two and did not advance to the final two days of play.  Matt Felser was the lone Eph to shoot under 80 with a 75 on a long and humbling day for the young Ephs.

First year candidates for the Eph team who are expected to push for a spot in the Williams line up include:  Siwol Chang (Nesconset, NY); Will Hadden (Manchester, VT), Christopher Valle (Victor, NY) and Mario Mastromarino (Staten Island, NY).

The goal for the 2008 fall season is to continue to improve and win the NESCAC Qualifier and thus host the NESCAC Championships setting up a best case scenario for going to the NCAA Tournament, where advancing to days three and four will be the first goal.

"This fall we will be playing a variety of team formats and events geared to getting some good tournament experience for a large number of players," noted Pohle. "We're purposely foregoing a competition on our opening weekend this year to better prepare our players for the rest of the fall season. Our first competition will be in a match play event at Middlebury – the day before the Duke Nelson Invitational. We hope to be ready for the NESCAC Qualifier at the end of September with our best players being poised to win the home course advantage for the NESCAC championships event, which will be slated for the spring."