This past weekend, the Amherst men’s golf team traveled to the picturesque Ralph Myhre golf course at Middlebury and returned with a third-place team finish as well as an individual win from first-year Cameron Clark. The team’s strong performance at the NESCAC championship qualifying tournament guaranteed them one of only four spots in next spring’s official championship, which will be hosted by Williams.

The purple and white entered the weekend knowing that only a top-four finish would bring the team to the promised land of next spring’s championship. Bearing these high-stakes in mind, Amherst turned in a strong team total of 294 on Saturday, good for third place after the dust settled and all the scores had been tallied up.

Led by Clark, who shot a course-low two-under-par 69 on Saturday and was supplemented by sub-80 scores from the rest of the team, the purple and white ended the day with a one-point lead over host Middlebury and just a three-point edge over then-fifth-place Bowdoin.

Amherst managed to hold on to its slim lead over both Middlebury and all other challengers on Sunday, with strong efforts once again from every single member of the team. Clark shot a 70 for a two-day total of 139, besting Will Rosenfield of Trinity for the individual title by a single point.

The rest of the team chipped in quality rounds as well, with Liam Fine ’17 shooting a 74 for a weekend total of 147 and Jack Burlison ’19 improving on Saturday’s 75 by notching a 73 on Sunday for a total of 148. Additionally, Dan Langa ’18 (79, 75) and Cole Vissicchio ’20 (77, 77) both shot 154 over the course of the weekend.

After all the rounds had been tallied, the purple and white ended up eking out a one-point victory for third place over Middlebury by a score of 586-587. More impressive, though, was the fact that Amherst finished only a single point behind the joint top-qualifiers, Williams and Trinity, two programs which have long held sway in the pantheon of NESCAC men’s golf. Indeed, the purple and white even managed to finish with a lower Sunday score than both schools above them, with the Sunday score of 292 tied with Middlebury for the day’s lowest round.

Amherst returns to the course one last time during the fall portion of the season this coming weekend, when the purple and white travel to Mamaroneck, New York to take part in the Manhattanville/NYU Fall Invitational on Oct. 7 and 8.