Golf: SEASON IN REVIEW

After steadily improving in the weeks leading up to the Ivy Championships, a very young men's golf team went into the conference tournament entertaining hopes of finishing in amongst the top three.

But things did not happen as the Lions wanted them to happen at Ivies, and Columbia ended the season at a disappointing fifth place standing in the league.

In the first two rounds at Metedeconk National, the Lions carded a 311 and a 304 to get to fourth place, just two strokes behind rival Dartmouth and easily within reach of their goal. In the third and final round, however, the Light Blue golfers struggled. Columbia scored a 317 in that last time through the course and dropped to fifth on the leader board behind Harvard.

While the members of the men's golf team are far from satisfied with their performance this season, there is a feeling among the returning golfers that next season will be different.

In a way, next year's team will be disadvantaged because the Lions will lose their greatest asset, four-year competitor Kielbasa, to graduation. And yet, the team will be stronger as a whole. Two first-years, Darren Bolton and Chris Oosterhuis, and two sophomores, Ali Haji and Nick Prost--all of whom saw plenty of competitive play on the course this spring--will be back to tee off for Columbia. Whereas this year's team was hindered by its youthfulness and inexperience, next year's team will be more mature and more confident against Ivy League opponents.