The golf team kicked off its season in Olean, N.Y. over the weekend at the Leo J. Keenan Invitational hosted by St. Bonaventure. The Red placed 6th out of 13 teams, with a two-day team total score of 599. Drexel won the tournament with 583 total points.

The brightest spot of the tournament for Red was the return of junior Matt Jaye, who was the top finisher for the Red. Jaye shot a 74 on Day 1 and a 69 on Day 2 to finish with a 143, good for 5th overall at the tournament.Matt is back: Junior Matt Jaye returned to the Red in time for the Leo J. Keenan Invitational, where he led Cornell with a 5th place overall finish.

“[Jaye] played very well,” said senior Robert Cronheim, who finished 2nd for the Red with a 150. “He definitely played the way that he’s capable of playing, it’s great to have him back.”

The course proved to be one of the more difficult that the Red has played on in the last few seasons.

“I thought that the course played moderately difficult,” said junior Dan Bosse, who finished 4th for the Red with a 155. “It wasn’t the hardest course that we’ve played on but it definitely wasn’t the easiest. The weather wasn’t an issue, but the greens were very hard and very difficult. Putting and chipping was pretty tough.”

Overall, the Red was disappointed with its performance as it did not play up to the high expectations that it set at the beginning of the season.

“We’re pretty disappointed,” Bosse said. “We didn’t play very well on either day. We had a lot of confidence going in but we just didn’t perform up to the level that we’re capable of.”

Heading into their week of practice, there is no specific aspect the Red is looking to improve. It’s still early, and the Red is merely trying to find the consistency that is vital to being a good golfer.

“For me personally, I’m going to work on making sure that I prepare myself better mentally,” Cronheim said. “I had a few mental lapses this weekend that should never happen, I need to focus on treating every hole and every shot as a fresh start.”

Still, the Red is confident in their abilities and is excited for the season ahead of them.

“We know that we didn’t play well but we know that we can compete with anybody,” Bosse said. “We’re just going to shake this weekend off and move forward.”