Golf Places 3rd at Newport
Last Saturday, the Exeter golf team competed in the prestigious annual Andover Invitational hosted by the Newport Country Club. The event is of the highest caliber, attracting eight strong teams in the New England league, and so only the top five players from the whole team–Brian Choi, Charlie Dubiel, William Huang, Harry Saunders and Stella Woo–competed. Exeter went in having won the Invitational consecutively in the previous two years, producing a score of 298 last year and the individual winners both times. Former Exonian Daulet Tuleybayev won with a remarkable 70 in 2015, while Steven Dilisio ‘16 and current captain and senior Charlie Dubiel shared medalist honors at 72. However, the team was unfortunately unable to secure the win this time around. The team finished at a respectable third place at a respectable 310, just 4 strokes behind the winning teams Loomis Chaffee and Taft who finished at 306. The team is disappointed, but looks forward to improving its game.
Newport faces the Atlantic Ocean, so strong winds gusted throughout the day. Dubiel believed this was a factor that certainly affected the team’s performance. “Not only does this challenge the player when hitting full shots, but wind this strong affects the way the ball rolls on the putting greens as well,” he said. However, he still takes responsibility for his own play and is ultimately looking to better himself and the team.
“I hit the ball really well from tee to green, but ultimately left four or five easy shots out there on the greens, and I think the rest of the team feels the same way about their play,” he said. Dubiel still played solidly, finishing second of the 40 participants.
Prep William Huang shared Dubiel’s sentiment. “I feel like all of us didn’t play the best at the Andover Invitational. I played poorly with a 7-over par 79, leaving a lot of opportunities on the field,” he said. “All of us understand what we need to work on individually. If we can figure out what went wrong with each of our rounds and fix the problem, our scores will ultimately be lowered.”
However, Huang pointed out that the team is still in good shape, despite its performance. “I think that the key is that we played poorly and still finished [in third] place. This gives us confidence that we don’t have to play our best to win. We just can’t make any large errors,” he said. Upper Harry Saunders agreed, saying, “This tournament showed the great potential our team has this season, but also that that potential will not be realized if we don’t get our short putts in line.”
Senior and co-captain Brian Choi was also displeased with his performance. “I collapsed and shot seven over. I’m not really sure what happened, since there aren’t any glaring weaknesses in my game but I just couldn’t pull off a string of good shots, resulting in a poor, inconsistent performance,” he said. However, he remains resolute to leading the team as a captain. “As long as I can keep my head down and focus on the next shot, I’m sure that I can stay near even par and contribute to my team even more.”
Nevertheless, Dubiel commended the team’s performance.“I was happy with how everyone stuck with it,” he said. “We certainly didn’t lose because of a lack of effort. I think it’s important to put this behind us for the moment, and focus on the rest of the season.”