The golf team opened its fall season this past Monday and Tuesday at the Doc Gimmler Invitational. The tournament was hosted by St. John’s University at the famed Bethpage Red and Black courses in Farmingdale, New York.
Overall, the Leopards placed 11th out of 12 participants. The Maroon and White shot 292 and 286 in rounds one and two respectively at the Bethpage Red course and finished with 312 in the final round at the historic Black course, the site of the 2025 Ryder Cup.
“That was a really awesome experience,” senior Sean Saw said. “It was obviously super hard, but just really cool to be able to be out there and play where the pros do.”
After the first two rounds of play, senior Quint Dingledine and junior Harry Dessel were tied at 29th place after shooting three over par on the Red Course.
“The thought was to take advantage of the easier course,” Dingledine said. “Then once we got to the Black Course – the harder course – everyone was trying to stay calm, stay composed.”
While many of the team’s golfers had already played in tournaments over the summer, the invitational provided the team with the opportunity to start strong and get back into the swing of things.
“Even if you played in tournaments over the summer, it’s always a different feel when you get back to school,” Dingledine said.
Dingledine continued his excellent individual play into the third round, shooting one over and coming in at four over par in the tournament, earning seventh place out of all the competitors.
“I knew if I kind of just played the same way I had and just stayed level-headed the entire time, I could shoot a good number,” Dingledine said. “I also knew that because the course is so hard, a lot of people ahead of me were going to blow up.”
While Dingledine was correct in his assessment that many competitors would blow up, the rest of the Leopards struggled to keep up with Dingledine to come from behind in the tournament overall.
“We had a very good finish from Quinn – his first ever top-10 – so it definitely hurts that some of our players on the team weren’t able to support him in that in terms of how we played,” Saw said. “But honestly, just sticking to the process, just keep trying to get better at the little things that we’ve been doing at the start of the semester, is really going to be key for us to play ourselves back into shape.”
In addition to Dingledine’s individual performance, Dessel finished the tournament at eight over par for a 20th-place finish. The next Leopards’ finisher was freshman Harrison Browne, competing in his first-ever tournament for the Leopards. He finished the three rounds shooting 17 over par and in 52nd place.
“I definitely think we have a better team this year than last year, so it’s a matter of being able to put together four good scores,” Dingledine said.
Additionally, senior Grace Sanborn competed at the Sacred Heart Battle at the Creek in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on Monday and Tuesday. Sanborn placed fourth overall in the tournament, shooting 79, 83 and 73 through rounds one, two and three respectively, good for 22 over par on the tournament.
The golf team’s next showing is at the Navy Invitational hosted by Navy in Annapolis, Maryland this Saturday and Sunday.
Assistant Sports Editor Benjamin White contributed reporting.
Disclaimer: Sports Editor Grace Sanborn did not contribute writing or reporting.
Correction 9/20/2024: A previous version of this article misspelled senior Quint Dingledine’s name.