2007 Season Preview
Entering the second season in head coach Jim Heller's tenure, the 2007 Swarthmore golf team is looking forward to another exciting season.
2006 was a spring of unparalleled success for the Garnet-- the team capped the year by finishing fourth (the best in school history) at the Centennial Conference Championships played on Pilgrim's Oak Golf Course in Peach Bottom, Pa.
Two Swarthmore golfers, Eric Zwick '07 and Michael Cullinan '06, finished tied for fifth at the Championships with three-day totals of 242, earning First Team All-Centennial honors in the process. The pair took care of business on the par 3s, finishing tied for second with an average score of 3.33 on the shorties and tied for fifth with a total of six birdies over three days. As a team, the Garnet led the Championship with an average score of 3.62 on the par 3s.
Swarthmore plays its home matches at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Pa. and won all three matches it hosted there in 2006. The 2007 team returns five of its top six scorers from 2006, including Zwick, who led the squad in scoring average (78.36). Seniors Ed Goldstein (83.25) and Zach Moody (83.23), along with sophomores David Lau (83.13) and Michael Bernasek (83.45), round out the top five returning golfers. The team will get immediate contributions from freshmen Jeff Lazarus and Ryan Shevin, as well as consistency from juniors Darren Johnson, Michael Johns, John Russo, and Armand Russo. Sophomore Jason Thrope is an energetic addition to the 2007 squad, sure to bring depth to the team.
The 2007 spring season begins with a training trip to a Pinehurst, North Carolina during the week of March 11-16. The busy spring schedule is highlighted by a trip to the Lebanon Valley College Spring Tournament and the first-annual Swarthmore Open at Rolling Green on April 9, featuring squads from Gettysburg, Dickinson, West Chester, Drexel, and Neumann. The season will culminate at the Centennial Conference Championship April 27-29 at Pilgrim's Oak Golf Course in Peach Bottom, Pa. for the second consecutive year. For the first time in Centennial Conference history, the winning team will receive an automatic bid to the Division III national championship tournament, which will be held May 15-18 at Prairie View Golf Club and Hawthorns Golf and Country Club in Carmel and Fishers, Indiana.