This weekend, the Amherst men’s golf team traveled to Hartford, Conn., for their season-opening tournament. The Mammoths arrived on NESCAC rival Trinity’s course to face some of New England’s toughest competition in the Bill Deitrick Invitational. After clinching sixth place in 2016, the purple and white bested their performance with a fifth-place finish to begin the 2017 season on a positive note.

While first-place Trinity seemed impenetrable, shooting an even 600, Amherst trailed third-place Western New England by only five shots with a two-day team total of 621.

A stellar second day was key to Amherst’s rise from sixth place after the first day.

“We went in with the strategy of giving guys a chance to see the course, as Trinity will be hosting the NESCAC qualifier in a few weeks,” senior captain Sam Procter noted. “Our mindset is that we can and want to win every tournament we play in this fall, and although we didn’t achieve that we still accomplished much this weekend that will benefit us going forward.”

In their first competition of the season, Amherst indeed proved their readiness, with a few noteworthy individuals faring well on the scoreboard.

“Jeff Herr [’20] played consistently well throughout the weekend,” Procter noted. “Cole Vissicchio [’20] followed up a tough day one with a solid 75 on day two. After getting a feel for the course, Cameron Clark [’20] kept a level head after hitting his first tee shot out of bounds on the first tee and went on to shoot a team low score.”

Herr’s clutch consistency paid off and earned him a four-way tie for first place. All three of the others vying for first place were Trinity Bantams.

Next weekend, Amherst will travel to Vermont to take part in the Duke Nelson Tournament, which will be hosted by yet another NESCAC rival, this time Middlebury. They tee off on Saturday, Sept. 16.