In its season debut, the men's golf team finished fourth at the Bowdoin Invitational at the Brunswick Golf Club last weekend. Ten teams, including NESCAC rivals Williams, Bates and Tufts, participated in the event, and Husson University claimed the tournament after posting a combined score of 616. The school beat second-place St. Anslem's College by 14 strokes, with Williams (641), Bowdoin (650) and Endicott (652) rounding out the top five finishers.
Bowdoin's top finisher was captain Johnny Bohorquez '13, who tied for fourth place individually with Tufts' Seb Vik and Williams' Dylan Dethier. All three golfers posted combined scores of 155.
Chris Hamel led the Husson team and carded a combined score of 144 to finish first individually. Husson's Mike Hersey finished third overall, with a score of 154, to propel the Eagles over second-place St. Anslem.
Bowdoin's Bohorquez was pleased with the way his season started.
"Last year was pretty disappointing for me, so I'm definitely pleased with my result for the first event of the season," he said. "I'd still like to see my game improve though, especially as the competition gets tougher in the coming weeks."
Other top finishers for Bowdoin included Bobby Kaminski '14, who tied for 12th overall with a score of 160.
Thomas Lilly '14 finished 27th overall with a score of 167, and Scott Mahoney '14, who was one stroke behind Lilly, tied for 29th place.
The Polar Bears, who finished with a score of 323 on Saturday, had an impressive outing on Sunday to take fourth place from Endicott. In particular, Lilly improved his Sunday performance by seven strokes to help the Polar Bears.
"I wasn't pleased with my score on Saturday, but I was glad to bounce back with a solid round on Sunday," Lilly said. "Conditions were tough, but they proved to be a good test for the rest of the season."
While each team is only allowed to count the scores of four designated players for the tournament, several other Bowdoin golfers were able to compete as the event was held on their home course.
"It was great to see some of the less experienced players post some really competitive scores," Bohorquez said of Danny Green '14 and Dusty Biron '15.
"Some of our top players posted some nice rounds, and I think the weekend served as a good learning experience for a lot of us," he added. "Individually, we can all post low numbers, but if we could do it more consistently in competition, this could be a very successful season, and I'm really excited to see how it plays out."
The Polar Bears look to improve upon their progress this Thursday at the University of Maine-Farmington Invitational, which will be held at Sunday River Golf Course. This weekend, the Polar Bears will travel to Val Halla Golf Course in Cumberland to participate in the Maine State Tournament.
In addition to NESCAC rivals Colby and Bates, Bowdoin will compete against University of Maine-Farmington, University of Maine-Presque Isle, Husson University, University of Southern Maine and St. Joseph's College in the event.