The men’s varsity golf team competed at the Ohio Wesleyan University Strimer Invitational last weekend and finished 13th of 15 teams. First-year Matthew Standeven led the Yeomen with an 89, good for 62nd place.

“I feel very surprised about my performance; to finish below 90 [strokes] was something nobody expected at all,” said Standeven. “Tom [King] usually gets the first, but between the rest of us, it’s usually up for grabs, so I don’t really have expectations for how I’m going to place.”

Despite his modesty, fellow teammates noted that Standeven has been working hard on his game during practices at the golf range and that he has been consistently improving.

The final round of the tournament was cancelled due to bad weather, but the Yeomen put up a fight.

“The conditions we had to play in were pretty ridiculous because of the freezing rain,” said first-year Jon Pisani. “Half the players were playing with numbness in their hands and one [non-Oberlin] player had to quit halfway through the first round because it hurt so bad.”

The Yeomen, on the other hand, were not quitters. “We went there knowing we were going to play in poor weather conditions and we didn’t let that bother us during the tournament,” said Pisani. “We often practice in bad weather, so we’re used to it.”

Pisani shot a 97, placing him 79th overall and as the fourth-highest scorer for Oberlin. “I put in a nine on one hole, and that was my only bad hole,” said Pisani. “Otherwise I probably would have finished second [among Oberlin teammates].”

That second-highest score was captured by senior Tom King with a respectable 95 strokes in the par 72 game. King finished 76th overall with junior Craig Betchart close behind in 77th place with 96 strokes.

First-year Saul Flores finished the tournament with a total of 98 strokes, good for 82nd place out of 90. “It’s really crazy when you can’t feel your hands or feet,” said Flores. “I had some good shots, but it was just way too cold. It was raining and snowing for the whole five and a half hours.”

“It was a crappy day for golf,” said Standeven. “I was definitely proud of the team, though. [Oberlin], Kenyon and Hiram are usually the three lower-tier schools that battle each other, and we beat Kenyon.”

The Yeomen are set to wrap up the 2005 season with the NCAC conference tournament this weekend at Wabash College. “I’m pretty confident about it,” said Standeven. “I feel like if we can get in a decent day or two of practice this week, we could do really well.”