On Sept. 29, Dartmouth men’s golf finished in second place at the Columbia Autumn Invitational in Lake Placid, N.Y.
The annual three-round tournament, hosted at the Lake Placid Club’s Links Course, featured 11 teams from across the northeast, including four Ivy League opponents — Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University and Harvard University. Dartmouth was represented by six golfers, three of whom finished in the top 25.
Leading the tournament was Tyler Brand ’27, who cruised to his first-place finish after scoring 12 under par on the first day and five under par the next. Brand said part of his strategy was to avoid looking at the leaderboard during the rounds and between days.
“I didn’t want to know what the leader was at,” Brand said. “I didn’t want that to take away from how I was going to approach the course on the final day.”
Without the pressure of the leaderboard, Brand finished -17 — setting a tournament scoring record in the process.
Brand said a key part of his preparation was improving his mental approach to the course.
“Last year I went to every tournament just to be out there, and this year [my mindset] was more focused for sure,” Brand said. “I’m definitely more conscious [of] how I want to play the course.”
Though he can be a “hot head” at times, keeping his emotions in line was key to his success this weekend, Brand added.
“[Last year], I would let one mistake turn into seven and let the round fall apart,” Brand said. “I did a good job of just sticking to the game plan and going out and playing golf.”
Brand’s teammate Alex Gu ’24 finished the tournament T-37 after posting an aggregate score of +9. Gu — a veteran at the Lake Placid Club — said he felt his familiarity with the course improved his play.
“I’ve had pretty good success the past couple of years, and that definitely helped me this past weekend,” Gu said.
Gu added that he and his teammates were able to feed off of the energy of Brand’s dominating performance.
“Being able to play in front of him that first day, it was incredible to see,” Gu said. “The way he was scoring, the way he was taking apart the golf course easily — it really gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.”
The flow of energy goes both ways — Brand said he also gained strength from the team’s spirit.
“It’s a lot more fun when you’re out there and you’re looking, seeing your teammates around, and everybody’s pretty fired up and focused,” Brand said.
Final rankings were not the only measure of the team’s success at the invitational. After posting -1 during the weekend’s play — no easy feat, especially as a first-year student — Colin Keith ’28 said he has grown more confident in the game.
“It’s really affirming to know the work I’ve put in over the summer is paying off,” Keith said. “It also helps to see my teammate win the tournament. It gives [Brand] a lot of confidence, but it also fuels us.”
At just the second event of his collegiate career — and with a new course to understand — Keith said he looked to take every opportunity possible.
“From my practice round, I was able to figure out it was a pretty open golf course and forgiving,” Keith said. “I didn’t have to be overly precise. I played fairly aggressive and tried to use my distance off the tee to my advantage.”
Getting used to collegiate golf has been an adjustment for Keith, especially with the importance of playing well as a team — not just individually.
“You have to be more patient with your play, and when you’re making decisions, you have to consider the team’s interest, and oftentime[s] that means being more conservative with some shots,” Keith said.
Looking ahead, Gu said he believes that the team’s strong finish may be an indication of good things to come the rest of the season.
“It really gives us a lot of hope going forward,” Gu said. “We have a really good team this year. We’ve got a lot of solid players that really score low any day and [at] any golf course.”
The team’s runner-up performance comes after a sixth-place finish at the Temple Invitational season opener in Plymouth Meeting, P.A. on Sept. 22. Men’s golf will have their eyes on the Elon Invitational in Burlington, N.C. on Oct. 14 and 15 as they look to capture their first team victory of the season.
