Linksters Third in Toski Tournament

The Crimson linksters were tripped up by devilish pin placements and sloppy greens on the Hickory Ridge Golf Club yesterday as they finished third in the Tom Toski Invitational Tournament at Amherst.

UMass, playing on its home course, overhauled first round leader Southern Connecticut State to win the tourney with a team aggregate of 613 strokes. Southern Connecticut dropped back to 615 while the Crimson was consigned to third place with a 622 total.

Harvard was the only competitor in the 21-school field to reel off five sub-eighty rounds on Sunday, but yesterday the capricious winds and spike-marked greens made the Geoffrey Cornish-designed course a stern examination paper.

Captain Alex Vik and freshman Brett Johnson pared the Crimson with 78's. Johnson, a much-ballyhooed addition to the linksters, is a native of Hopkins, Minn.

Johnson, who worked at the Interlachen Country Club where Bobby Jones won the 1930 U.S. Open, was runner-up in the Western Junior last summer. The Western Junior attracts 380 of the country's leading amateurs, including Walker Cup competitor Gary Hallberg.

Waterloo

Johnson started off his round by going five-over par after five holes but then buckled down to play the remaining 15 holes in one-over. Johnson started his round on the 14th hole, which he promptly bogeyed. His Waterloo came on the par three 17th. He plunked his tee shot into a greenside bunker, bellied his sand shot over the green, and took a triple bogey.

Vik's 36-hole total of 152 placed him in a tie for fourth place while Harvard's Spence Fitzgibbons fell one shot back after firing a 79 yesterday. George Arnold, whose home course was also designed by Cornish, labored to an 84 while Dave Paxton brought up the rear with an 87.

The tourney medalist was Southern Connecticut's Bill Day, who after blitzing to a five-under par 67 on Sunday, ballooned to an 80 yesterday. Day was tied with Richard Balanger of UMass at 147, but beat him out when he parred the first hole of their playoff and Balanger could do no better than a bogey.

The linksmen all took more than their share of three putts yesterday because the soft greens had been trampled down, creating crowns around the cups. "The putts just kind of expired when they got up to the cup," Vik said, "it was like putting up a mountainside."

Free Lessons

The tourney medalist receives three free lessons from Bob Toski, the renowned teaching pro, who is the most successful of the clan of golfing Toski Brothers. The tourney is held to commemorate their late father. The Crimson linksmen, however, did not come away empty handed. Each member of the team received ten dollars worth of merchandise from the Hickory Ridge golf shop.