What is it that separates a golfer from a basketball, baseball, or football player? Is it skill? Is it heart? No. It is his or her ability to play individually, be scored on individually, yet still be an integral part of a team.
Golfers don?t have someone motivating them after every shot, they don?t have timeouts nor do they have substitutions.
They are forced to find the strength and mental toughness within them to maintain their focus. Without much fan support, they face great challenges on the golf course.
The UR golf team has managed to overcome these challenges and finish strong so far into season. In the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships Oct. 6-7, UR finished second out of 17 teams shooting a 299.
Senior captain Joe Quijano tied for a medal with Joey Pohle of Skidmore College and shot a 71-74-145. He played well the first day leading the tournament, but ran into trouble with high scores and a challenging course.
Despite their slight disappointment from not grabbing the team win, the Yellowjackets? strong showings in the past two tournaments ?demonstrated that we are able to compete with the best schools in the Northeast,? coach Rich Johnson said.
His outlook for the rest of the season is bright and the statistics show how strong the Yel-lowjackets have become this year.
The ?strong finishes at the Williams Tournament, the ECAC qualifier, and the ECAC championship have demonstrated that we are able to compete with the best schools in the Northeast and our first 2001-2002 victory is soon to come,? Johnson said. The Yellowjackets were victors in the Williams Tournament.
After that disappointing first tournament, the team rebounded to become 44-5 against other Div. III schools.
While the team has set numerous long range goals, right now they want to win the last two tournaments. ?With a strong team like this, we can definately think about winning, not just finishing well,? Johnson said.
Gross can be be reached at bgross@campustimes.org.