Courtsey of Brian Beard

The men’s golf team took fourth place and a program best finish at the NESCAC Championships this past weekend at the Taconic Golf Club, hosted by Williams College. Andrew Flynn ’27 took  eighth individually, and Matt Cohen ’27 and Henry Mariscal ’28 tied for 17th.

Despite harsh weather conditions and three days of play, the team improved on last year’s seventh-place finish.

Cohen talked about how the team prepared for the varying weather conditions.

“[It was] beautiful and sunny on Friday, pouring rain on Saturday and cold and windy Sunday, [so] we faced a lot of different conditions. To be ready for that, we had to make sure to pack all sorts of different weather gear and know that the ball is going to fly differently each day depending on the conditions,” Cohen said. “We also took it a little easier in practice on Wednesday and Thursday so the body would be ready for three days in a row of 18 holes.”

The Polar Bears also honed their shots in practice to adapt to the Taconic course.

“This was our first tournament of the spring playing the ball down, so we spent some time in practice working on shots from bad lies and from thick rough,” Cohen said. “We also knew going in that Taconic has some of the fastest and most sloping greens that we play, so I spent a lot of time working on fast-breaking putts.”

Flynn emphasized the team’s mental strategy.

“It’s important to stay focused for all three days. You can’t win on the first two days, but you can lose, so it’s important to play smart and keep yourself in contention as anything can happen on day three,” Flynn wrote in an email to the Orient.

The team started its first day with high energy and many positive performances.

“I started out really well with birdies on my first two holes, and I continued playing well for a while getting to four under through 11 holes, which I believe was leading the tournament,” Flynn wrote. “The rest of the team was also playing very well. We all had a tough back nine though and ended up in fifth after day one, nine shots behind the leader, and individually, I ended up shooting one over 72 individually, also in fifth place.”

Cohen echoes Flynn’s sentiments.

“It was a beautiful day, and I was hitting it well. The only things off with my game was mid irons, and I made some bogeys by missing greens in bad spots and failing to get up and down. I ended up shooting 76,” Cohen said. “It wasn’t a great score but kept us in the mix of the tournament.”

On their second day, the Polar Bears woke up to pouring rain, which meant the driving range closed, and the team’s warmup was shortened. Despite these challenges, the team was still able to maintain its fifth-place standing going into the final day of the tournament.

The weather did not let up on the third day, with temperatures hovering around freezing.

“The scoring average on day three was five shots higher than it was on day one across the entire tournament. I knew it was a good opportunity to get back some spots on the leaderboard,” Flynn wrote.

Cohen added that the wind gusts added another level of difficulty to play.

“The wind gusts started getting up to 40 to 50 miles per hour, and the back nine was the toughest golf I have ever faced in my time at Bowdoin,” Cohen said.

However, this challenge gave the team at least one lucky break, which turned out to be Cohen’s favorite moment of the tournament.

“I missed a putt on the 13th hole that proceeded to be blown back into the hole by the wind from a foot away,” Cohen  said.

Overall, the team pushed through and surpassed the Ephs to finish in fourth. In addition, the Polar Bears had the third-best team total that day.

Cohen reiterated the team’s strong performance amid the weekend’s conditions.

“I think the team did really well managing all the conditions that we faced. Especially on the last day, it seemed like a lot of teams didn’t grind through the wind,” Cohen said. “I think our attitude in these circumstances is what allowed our team to put up one of the best scores on the final day and climb a spot on the leaderboard.”

The Polar Bears’ are already looking forward to next year’s NESCAC tournament, which will be hosted by Trinity College.

“Our lineup [this year] included three sophomores and one freshman, so we are still a young team,” Flynn said. “I think we are just going to continue getting better and build off of this finish for next year.”