Linksters Succumb to Wollaston and Salem State

The Wollaston golf course showed no quarter yesterday as only three sub-eighty rounds were recorded during the match between the Crimson linksters, Salem State, Brown, and B.C. yesterday. When the divots had settled, Salem State had pulled out a three-stroke victory at the eleventh hour.

Harvard and Salem State were deadlocked before Wade Anders, the last man in the clubhouse for Salem State, posted an 82. Ander's score obliterated his teammate's 85 and slapped the linksmen with their second loss of the season.

The Crimson finished with a team aggregate of 407 strokes while B.C. logged 424 and Brown ballooned to a 437 in the fickle winds of Wollaston. The secret to Salem State's success was consistency as the squad bunched five rounds between 79 and 82.

The upbeat side of the loss was the impeccable play of Spence Fitzgibbons, who earned medalist honors with a three-over par 75, three strokes ahead of fellow teammate and Harvard Captain, Alex Vik. Vik played the front nine in even par but foozled coming down the backstretch. The only other sub-eighty round was recorded by Salem State's Andy Sborbone.

The rest of Harvard's scoring was desultory at best. Freshman Glenn Alexander, whose drives are as pure as the driven snow, came in at 80. Jim Dales skied to an 85 when he lost seven strokes to par in the last three holes of his round, Dave Paxton and Brett Johnson stumbled to 89s.

Wollaston is the type of course that makes scratch golfers quake at address. It boasts the highest rating of any course in Massachusetts, as it sports 11 water holes and requires pinpoint driving to hit the hourglass fairways.

For 15 holes Dales innocently coasted along displaying the midseason form that earned him the low round of 73 in the linksters' last outing before the course reached up and grabbed him. Dales' fatal Cleopatra proved to be the 16th. The hole is a 535-yard double dogleg with water encircling the green.