Banner Weekend On Tap For Women's Golf Team

Located 18 miles from Boston College, Blue Hills Country Club is one of Massachusetts' most fabled golf courses. Having opened in 1925, it's been the host to a number of tournaments through the years. In 1956, it hosted the PGA Championship, one of the sport's four most prestigious tournaments. Now the host of the Eagles golf programs, it's a northeastern gem, one used by both the men and women to hone their craft.

This weekend, it'll transform into a couple of banner days for the women's program as BC hosts their tournament this weekend. With 15 teams on the docket, the Boston College Intercollegiate will display a unique environment along the 6,000-yard, Par 72 course.

"It's so exciting for us to host the tournament," senior Jocelyn Chia said. "It's awesome that we have a course so close to campus that we can call home like at Blue Hills. It's something that we're really excited to compete in. We know the men's team will be there to volunteer and support us, so it's going to be a lot of fun."

The tournament will play host to nine other schools, only one of which is from New England. While Brown University will make the short ride up I-95 from Providence, the remaining schools will attend from various areas of the nation. Fairleigh Dickinson and Georgetown are the closest from New Jersey and Washington, D.C., but the rest of the tournament will feature teams from very different regions. North Dakota State and South Dakota, for example, are traveling from the Upper Midwest, while Florida International, Lipscomb University and Wofford College are all coming up from more southern climates. Ball State rounds out the field.

While the women will compete on the course, the tournament is a wonderful opportunity for the program to showcase its own culture and identity. The Eagles embrace the toughness that comes with being a cold weather school in a warm weather sport, developing a closeness unique to BC.

"It's a fun environment, and that's a big thing to point to," men's junior Tyler Hatton said. "A lot of people point to us as a cold weather school and see that as a disadvantage because you can't really play at certain times through the year. But I think the way both our teams embrace it is really, really nice. We balance it by getting out when we can and make sure we take advantage of every opportunity together."

That cohesion between both genders is paying dividends in their success. The women finished tied for ninth at last season's ACC Golf Championship, their best finish since joining the conference, while the men have seen a surge in their core individual performances. Players like Matthew Naumec, Christian Cavaliere and transfer Tyler Kertson led the team to a third place finish in their season opener at Turning Stone and a sixth place finish at the Hartford Hawks Invitational.

"We all worked really hard over the summer to start rolling right away," Chia said. "We really wanted to build from our performance last year into our summer and then build on our summer play."

"We're really lucky to gel pretty well as a team," Hatton said. "We didn't skip a beat from last year, especially in welcoming three new guys into the program. It was great to get back, and we have two new freshmen (Brandon Kewalramani and Kevin Paek) and a graduate transfer from Santa Clara (Kertson) that joined the roster. We felt like we had a good year last year, but this year really is a year to us that we can make a move (in the ACC)."

Though the program is undergoing unprecedented growth, it all settles back on just enjoying the moment. This weekend represents an exciting first, but it's also a chance to enjoy more rounds of golf before winter's chill robs them of that opportunity. With temperatures expected to feel like summer, the athletes also don't want to look forward or beyond whatever's in front of them.

"We have some really strong tournaments this year, but I think we're really going one round at a time," Chia said. "We can't worry so much about the future or past rounds that we've played and (we) just need to enjoy competing each hole. That we have a chance to practice together allows us to do that in a really fun environment."

"Everyone has their own way to go about things, so we really chat amongst ourselves," Hatton said. "Someone the team might be stronger in certain facets of the game than someone else. It's really valuable to show each other ideas, and with the pace of the game, we have that time in practice and in between shots."

Blue Hills Country Club is located in Canton, with the tournament teeing off on Sunday and Monday.

Banner Weekend On Tap For Women's Golf Team

Players Mentioned

Christian Cavaliere

Jocelyn Chia

Tyler Hatton

Tyler Kertson

Brandon Kewalramani

Matt Naumec

Kevin Paek

Boston College Athletics