“[My favorite part was] traveling for the most part, we went to a very cool spot in Wisconsin Lake Geneva, kind of like a resort. We stayed on the course, and it was [a] very fun, good experience traveling for the first time with the team out of state,” Elshamy said. “We flew, obviously, and we actually connected with one of our former players who graduated last year. His name is James [and he] works and lives in Chicago. We had dinner with him the first night.”
According to Miles Eastman (sophomore), the tournament was a priority for players on the team.
“We said we wanted to travel, and we got to travel this year — and it’s a blast going with the guys,” Eastman said. “The whole thing, going to the airport, staying in the hotel… it was really cool.”
Eastman said that his personal goal was to win going into the tournament.
“I think I’m a good enough player, especially at the Division III level. I haven’t accomplished it yet. I mean winning is hard in golf, but my time’s coming,” Eastman said. “[With] the team, I think our goal is to win. We see a lot of good teams in the regular [season] and I think the Midwest isn’t quite as strong, so we were expecting to win, so to not meet that goal is disappointing. But you know, we’ll get more chances.”
Elshamy said that that the team’s sixth place finish was a slightly above average performance.
“I’d say we certainly had ambitions of winning the tournament and [that] obviously didn’t go to plan,” Elshamy said.
Elshamy said this tournament gave the team a chance to prepare for the Spring season.
“It’s very unlikely that you’re going to win every single tournament you play as a collegiate golfer. I’d say you call it a successful season if you win one tournament a year individually or as a team. But I mean, if you’re not playing to win, then why are you competing?” Elshamy said. “But, considering it’s a Fall season, this is just preparation for the Spring when we actually compete at SCIAC [tournaments].”
According to Coach Morris, the men’s team played well but needed to be more consistent.
“We always look to reach the maximum of our potential. Several rounds we had two players play well, but the others did not have a great day,” Morris said. “In our sport, the low four out of five count in scoring. If we could get four people to play well on the same day, we are as good as any Division III team in the nation.”
The team competed next against SCIAC teams at the Chapman invitational from Oct. 9-10. According to Morris, two different Occidental players broke 70 in the same event. Owen Wolak (first year) won the event with a 4-under-par 68. Max Malakoff (junior) shot a 3-under-par 69. Morris said he didn’t know if Occidental has ever had two players in the same event break 70 before.
According to the Oxy Athletics website, the men’s golf team’s first Spring tournament is Feb. 24 at the first SCIAC tournament. Eastman said the team is excited about the upcoming season.
“I really want us to be competitive in SCIAC. There are some teams like Claremont and Pomona that are really good — nationally ranked,” Eastman said. “With the incoming freshman class that we have and more competitive culture that’s been developed on the team, I think we can make a run at it and at least be competitive.”
Contact Lily Snyder at lsnyder@oxy.edu
