Ephs with two-point lead after stage one at Tour de Golf

MIDDLEBURY, VT – The men’s varsity golf team start their 2008-09 campaign with a strong outing, defeating regional rival Middlebury College by two points in stage one of the Tour de Golf yesterday. Despite persistent rainfall and damp conditions, the squad was able to top Middlebury by a score of 28-26, while the Babson College team finished with 9 points.

In this tournament, seven players competed for each school, with a player from each team squaring off against one opponent from both teams in match-play competition. Each three-golfer match was worth three points (front 9/back 9/total 18) towards their respective team’s total.

It was senior Matt Felser and sophomore Matt Camp who led the charge, each racking up 6 points for the Ephs. Also impressive was first year Siwol Chang who won 5 ½ points, as well as second year Drew Murray, who earned another 4 points for Williams. Other notable performances include Middlebury seniors Harry Bane and Kyle Perez who netted 5 ½ and 5 points for their team, respectively.

Stage two of the Tour de golf tournament will be held at the Taconic Golf Club at Williams College this coming Friday. Scores from stage one and stage two will be combined and a winner will be crowned based one those results.

In more immediate matters, the team will be participating in the Duke Nelson Invitational at Middlebury this weekend as well on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Several teams are expected to compete such as UMass-Dartmouth, Skidmore, and of course, Middlebury.

“All seven players will compete in this weekend's Duke Nelson Invitational at Middlebury,” remarked Ephs head coach Rick Pohle, “so this was good experience to play the course ahead of time.”

Coach Pohle, who has held the position of head coach and the title of head golf professional at the Taconic Golf Club since 1983, seemed pleased with the team’s first outing of the season and is looking to forward to a strong showing in the tournament this weekend.

Round one of the Duke Nelson Tournament is set to commence at 1:00PM tomorrow and round two at 9:00AM on Sunday.

STAGE ONE @ Middlebury College -- Results

Singles matches - 3 points per match (front/back/total)

BABSON COLLEGE
1. Fernando Pineres  3
2. Matt Foley 0
3. Bryan Eger 1
4. Matt Doherty 0
5. Harrison Epstein 2
6. Eric Tidman 1/2
7. Joe Graves 2 1/2

TEAM TOTAL = 9

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE
1. Harry Bane 5 1/2
2. Mike McCormick 3
3. Brian Cady 4
4. Jim Levins 3 1/2
5. Jesse Keenan 1
6. Kyle Perez 5
7. Ashley Miller 4

TEAM TOTAL = 26

WILLIAMS COLLEGE
1. Jack Killea 1/2
2. Matt Felser 6
3. Drew Murray 4
4. Siwol Chang 5 1/2
5. Bob Camp 6
6. Galen Jackson 3 1/2
7. Rahul Bahl 2 1/2

TEAM TOTAL = 28