This weekend, the Amherst men’s golf team capitalized on a successful day two of competition to clinch 16th place at the 34th annual Duke Nelson Tournament in Middlebury, Vermont.

Amherst faced a strong pool of both in- and out-of-conference opponents. Babson College and Western New England University claimed first and second, respectively, while Trinity led the NESCAC with their third-place finish.

The Mammoths, for their part, shot a two-day team total of 616 (313-303).

“We took advantage of the perfect weather at a course that suits our team’s strengths,” sophomore Nicholas Kumamoto said. “I’m glad that everyone was able to do well the second day, but there’s been a pattern and we need to be able to put a strong two days together.”

Kumamoto was the leader among the purple and white with scores of 75 and 77 for a total of 152, which was enough to earn him a tie for 46th overall.

Jack Burlison ’19 and Nicholas Sullivan ’20 tied with combined scores of 154. While Sullivan shot identical scores of 77 both days, Burlison drastically improved his performance from 82 to 72 on day two.

Senior captain Dan Langa shaved 11 strokes in his second day of competition to shoot 88 and 77.

“I think we’re now defining our strengths and weaknesses as a team,” Langa said. “And understanding that we need to work on our composure on the first day is a super important takeaway from this.”

Mateo Weisner ’18 finished just behind Langa with a score of 162 and identical scores of 81 and 81 to round out the team’s scoring, although his tally didn’t count to the overall score.

Although his score did not count toward his team, senior Justin Henricksen also had a successful weekend, carding rounds of 82 and 75 for a total of 157.

The Mammoths will be back on the course Saturday, Sept. 23 for the Williams Fall Invitational.