GOLF

Good weather probably means more to Dartmouth's golfers than to any other team. Last year it was nearly May before Bill Johnson's team could play regularly on the Hanover Country Club course after the vacation experience in the Miami Invitational Tournament.

This spring, things have been much better. The showing in the Miami tournament was good for 17th place (only Princeton was better among the northern colleges entered in the 40-team field).

In early April, the second tournament test arrived with the Maryland Spring Classic at College Park and the Green took third place behind Maryland and Virginia in the two-day tournament.

The best performance to date came in the opening triangular match of the regular season as the Green scored convincing wins over Holy Cross and Central Connecticut (a team that had. won the ECAC fall tournament qualifying round at Hanover with a 12-stroke bulge over Dartmouth).

"We've got enthusiasm and we've got players who are able to challenge for a place in the starting lineup," said Coach Johnson, who is about to reap the harvest from last spring's rebuilding effort.

Freshman Jerry Daly from Middlebury, Conn., Paul Dixon from Aurora, Ont. (he's the hockey captain), and senior Jim Edgeworth from Wellesley Hills, Mass., have been the more consistent players at this early date.

Daly was the individual leader in Miami and also led four Dartmouth entries among the top 20 finishers in the Maryland tourney.

In the triangle match with Holy Cross and Central Connecticut, Daly along with Steve Bell and Jay Leonard had 80s while Dixon had an 81 to place among the top seven golfers in a match that was played on unpredictable greens.

"The win over Central was tremendously important for us," said Johnson. "They had beaten us badly last fall and were unbeaten coming into the match at Worcester." The Green held a 15-stroke advantage over Central and were nine shots ahead of Holy Cross.

Last year it took Dartmouth five matches to taste victory. With the Hanover links shaping up far ahead of schedule, it looks like the Green could be ready and willing by the time they head to the Easterns at Penn State on May 5-6.