Men

This year, the Amherst men’s golf team looks to improve upon their results from their 2014-2015 season. Their fall season last year was highlighted by a 13th-place finish out of a field of 22 at the 2014 ECAC Division III New England Championships. This tournament was their last of the fall, and they didn’t resume action until the spring. In April they earned fifth place out of a 17-team field at the Hampton Inn Collegiate Invitational, showing great improvement over their fall results.

Even though the Jeffs graduated three seniors last year, they still have the potential to post good scores. The sophomore class in particular is poised to improve upon their good results from last year. Under Coach Jack Arena ’83, Amherst looks forward to kicking off the season on Saturday, Sept. 12 at the Williams College Invitational.

Women

After learning of the retirement of head coach Michelle Morgan at the end of last season, the Amherst women’s golf team hopes to regain consistency under interim head coach Mike Valentine ’05. The team does, however, expect to sorely miss Jamie Gracie ’17 during her semester abroad this fall.

As captain Sarah Ressler ’16 said, “having Jamie abroad will be tough, but our sophomore, Zoe Wong, is poised for a good season, and she and captain Devyn Gardner will be there to lead the team.”

Last season, the Women’s Golf Coaches Association named Gracie to the All-East Region team. In addition, Gracie finished 25th out of a field of 110 players at the 2015 NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championship.

The team does expect to compete, however, and Ressler added, “we have three promising freshmen coming in, so I think we’ve become a pretty young team that has a lot of potential.”