Golfers Head to California and Hawaii for Break

During spring break, the men’s and women’s golf teams will begin their 2008 season. The men will open up in Patterson, Calif. at the Diablo Grande Invitational, and the women will begin their defense of their 2007 Ivy League championship with the three-day Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational, hosted by the University of Hawaii in Kane’ohe, Hawaii.

The women’s team is operating with a very different team than the one that won the Ancient Eight last year, as four seniors graduated from the eight-player squad. This season, in addition to the four returning players, two freshmen and two juniors joined the team.

During the fall season, the team gained experience by competing in many different events, with its best finishes coming at the Princeton University Women’s Golf Invitational. There, it placed second out of 12 teams, while at the Richmond Spiders Women’s Golf Invitational, it placed second of 15 teams.

The men’s team is going to have some big shoes to fill after the graduation of last year’s Ivy League champion, Chris Condello. During the fall portion of the season, the Light Blue recorded results in four tournaments, finishing 11th of 13 at the Hartford Invitational, fifth of 18 at the St. John’s Invitational, 11th of 25 at the Yale Invitational, and fourth of 15 at the Big 5 Invitational. The Big 5 Invitational, Columbia’s most recent event, was its best performance, and it was led by freshman Austin Quinten, who finished fifth.

The men’s spring season begins with the Diablo Grande Invitational, which will take place March 15-18 and will be hosted by Drake University. After that event, the Lions will head to Santa Cruz, Calif. for the 62nd annual Western Intercollegiate Men’s Golf Tournament, which will be hosted by San Jose State University from March 24-27. There, the Light Blue will take on 15 other teams, many of which will hail from the West Coast.