Golf tees off title hunt
Brian Connor
Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Sports
The No. 3 ranked Skidmore golf team wrapped up its regular season and is looking ahead to the NCAA Championship Tournament, which will be held in Port St.. Lucie, FL, this May.
Thanks to a generous donation from Skidmore Golf alumnus Robert Spellman, '86, the team acquired top-of-the-line indoor training equipment, which allowed the players to keep their swings warm during the cold winter months, an advantage usually reserved for Southern golfers.
Hoping to capitalize on the success of the fall and to challenge the team's abilities, Coach David Bakyta entered the team in Division I tournaments. Though the team's run of first-place victories was cut-short by Division I competition, the players and Bakyta feel that they have had a successful season.
"I'm incredibly proud of our record so far this year," Bakyta said. "Each player made a commitment to get better and I think everyone has. Our fall season might have been the best in our team history."
Co-Captain Chris DeJohn, '10 expressed a similar attitude toward his team's performance this past year.
"Overall I feel the season has been successful," DeJohn said. "We won all but one of our tournaments in the fall and we had our highest finish at the Division 1 George Washington Invitational in the team history... Personally I set my goals a bit higher for this season, buts as a whole I performed well, and learned a lot from the season thus far."
Though the team has closed out its regular season, postseason challenges still remain. The team will play through and compete in the NCAA Championship Tournament, where it placed fourth last year.
"Nationals always seem to have a way of providing unforeseeable challenges, but we had a good look at our competition at the Gordin Classic in the fall, and this past weekend at Rochester," DeJohn said. "I think we have as good of a chance as any team at the tournament and we've seen the courses a few months ago on spring break, so it's just a matter of putting it together and staying in the moment."
Thanks to a generous donation from Skidmore Golf alumnus Robert Spellman, '86, the team acquired top-of-the-line indoor training equipment, which allowed the players to keep their swings warm during the cold winter months, an advantage usually reserved for Southern golfers.
Hoping to capitalize on the success of the fall and to challenge the team's abilities, Coach David Bakyta entered the team in Division I tournaments. Though the team's run of first-place victories was cut-short by Division I competition, the players and Bakyta feel that they have had a successful season.
"I'm incredibly proud of our record so far this year," Bakyta said. "Each player made a commitment to get better and I think everyone has. Our fall season might have been the best in our team history."
Co-Captain Chris DeJohn, '10 expressed a similar attitude toward his team's performance this past year.
"Overall I feel the season has been successful," DeJohn said. "We won all but one of our tournaments in the fall and we had our highest finish at the Division 1 George Washington Invitational in the team history... Personally I set my goals a bit higher for this season, buts as a whole I performed well, and learned a lot from the season thus far."
Though the team has closed out its regular season, postseason challenges still remain. The team will play through and compete in the NCAA Championship Tournament, where it placed fourth last year.
"Nationals always seem to have a way of providing unforeseeable challenges, but we had a good look at our competition at the Gordin Classic in the fall, and this past weekend at Rochester," DeJohn said. "I think we have as good of a chance as any team at the tournament and we've seen the courses a few months ago on spring break, so it's just a matter of putting it together and staying in the moment."
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