Linksmen Rally in NCAA Qualifying Tourney

The Crimson golfing quintet wound up the season with back-to-back 36-hole jaunts in the NCAA qualifying tourney last week, and the Easterns this weekend at Princeton.

The linksters entered the qualifying tourney seeking the highly coveted berth in the NCAAs as defending medalists, but were considered dark horses in the showcase for New England collegiate talent this time around.

Only the winning team makes it to the NCAAs, which prompted Harvard's top man Alex Vik to confess before the squad teed off at the Agawam golf course in Providence, "We have to win, and I don't think we can. Statistically and rationally I don't think it's possible."

Vik almost had to eat his words, though, as the squad mustered a second-place finish behind UMass after unleashing a fusillade of sub-eighty rounds. The team's finish staggered the likes of Dartmouth and B.C., who topped the Crimson earlier in the campaign.

Vik was among the leaders after the first day, posting a 74, but he climbed to a 76 for his second circuit. He missed qualifying for the NCAAs on an individual basis by only three strokes.

Sophmore Dave Paxton carded rounds of 81 and 79 while Spence Fitzgibbons lopped five strokes off of his opening 88 to finish with a 171-stroke aggrgate.

Birdies

Captain Scott McNealy rose to the occasion with his best outing of the season, registering rounds of 76 and 79. McNealy's 76 was the product of birdies on all four of Agawam's par fives, as his fairway woods touched down on the flagstick like a butterfly with sore feet.

UMass outdueled the linksmen by 27 strokes. "They just sort of outclassed the field," Paxton said, as Minuteman Glen Sullivan pulled away from the pack, stringing rounds of 69 and 75.

The Crimson fared less well at the Easterns at Princeton's undulating Springdale golf course.