The Pomona-Pitzer men’s golf team opened their SCIAC season with a win over the much-feared Cal-Tech Beavers, with a score of 311-375. It was not the playing ability of the Cal-Tech squad that worried the team, but rather their lack thereof. As player Ben Hochstein ’04 put it, "It is hard to focus on your own game when the guys you are playing with are so bad".. The Hens have fallen victim to this mind trap in the past, but this year managed to hold on and post some good scores. Both Luc Schuster ’02 and Ben Hochstein ’04 recorded a pair of five over 77’s. RG Manalac ’02 and Drew Staniewski ’04 also helped the team by posting a 79 and 78 respectively. The top scorer for Cal-Tech posted an 82.

Not only did the team have to contend with an improved set of Beavers, but also with the course and elements as well. The venue of Thursday’s match was the fabled Mountain Meadows Municipal Links at which blind shots, a myriad of divots, and snail paced play are the norm. As usual, the Hens were forced to contend with the coming of night, and although they increased the pace of play and asked the Cal-Tech players to devise night vision devices out of duct tape and Coke Cans, the match was called with only a few holes remaining. Although many on the team were disappointed with the way the match ended, it was considered by all to be, in the words of Hochstein, "a good way to go into the season."

This year the Hens may need all the help they can get, because according to Coach Lorn Foster, "the league is a lot stronger top to bottom." This may be the case, but the Pomona-Pitzer team, although losing two of their starting five, is, according to Foster, "a much better team than last year." This is in part to the addition of the four new freshmen players. Each brings his own strengths to the course.

Hochstein has convinced this reporter that even with the influx of new blood into the Hens’ camp, "the team is starting to gel," especially behind the leadership of captain Luc Schuster ’02. The more senior members of the squad have taken it upon themselves to help the freshman become more comfortable with college-level golf. As freshmen Drew Staniewski told this reporter, "Each upperclassman provides their own style of leadership." Captain Schuster is leading the team with strong play and an extremely high level of commitment to improving his own game, RG Manalac ’02 is fast becoming the on-course leader, and Duke Gray ’03 is, well, leading in his own way.

The team’s next match against the perennial rival Stags was postponed due to rain on Monday. Although this is the official story, the Pomona rumor mill which, seems to always be working overtime, has attributed the postponement to the previously scheduled CMC event of framing the new Bush tax proposal. The match has thus been postponed until March 7, at which time the Hens will have one more match and a 36-hole tournament under their belts. The contest last year between these two teams was decided by only two strokes and this one is looking to be just as close.

The Hens next match is scheduled for Thursday, February 22 against La Verne. It will be played at Goose Creek Golf Course, about which nobody in SCIAC knows or has seen anything, including the Hens, as they have not had the opportunity to tee up at this particular track before. Goose Creek is one of the many courses the team will be calling home this year due to the loss of their old stomping grounds, Red Hill Country Club. But not to fear, the Hens plan on practicing at the course next Tuesday and therefore should have a slight advantage over the La Verne squad.

The team is using the continuing deluge as an excuse to work on new training regiments, all of which actually require the team to enter the Rains Center. One Junior member was even overheard remarking on the fact that the facilities were nicer than he had imagined.

The crux of the new Rains Regiment, as it has come to be known, is a daily pickup game of basketball, during which most of the team shows exactly why their game is golf instead of roundball. Yet the team is confident that, with a few more rainy day practices, the squad might just be able to give Claremont Middle School a run for their money. A challenge was given to the CMS team, but they were too busy sending flowers to John Ashcroft. The fact that the two squads could not get down and dirty does not mean that the outcome is not obvious to all of us; after all, we have seen CMS play basketball before.