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Penn senior Chad Perman leads a veteran Penn squad into action this spring after averaging a 72 during the fall for the Quakers. [Andrew Margolies/DP File Photo]

Saturday the Penn men's golf team will head to San Diego, Calif., to spend spring break playing in the 53rd Annual Southern California Intercollegiate Championships. Following the tournament, the players will have the opportunity to play various courses in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas. The trip provides a great opportunity for the team to play numerous rounds of golf in warm weather and prepare for competition back home. April 26 and 27 marks the Ivy Golf Championships, which is where the focus for each player on this year's squad lay. The Ivy League victor heads to NCAA Regionals to compete for a chance to play in the National Championship at the end of May. Penn coach Heath Davidson is excited about the combination of five returning players and the addition of three freshmen. Co-captains Chad Perman and Peyton Wallace "lead by example both on and off the course," says Davidson. Perman led the team in the fall, averaging a score of 72. Freshman Derek Rogers has been able to adjust to the collegiate level of play by following the lead of his elders, exceeding Davidson's expectations coming into the season. The Quakers coach has high hopes for Rogers' time at Penn, starting with this spring season. After returning from California, the team will go to Towson on the weekend of March 29-30. The Quakers will be one of 20-24 teams from their district to compete at this tournament. In addition to the Ivy League, Penn competes in District II, a league growing more competitive each season. The first weekend of April finds the Quakers at Navy; on April 11-12 Penn will be in Princeton. The Tigers are both Penn's District II rivals and host a tournament later this season. The Quakers will then have just two short weeks before the Ivy Championships, where they hope to defeat the three-time defending Tigers. Each team brings five players to each of the tournaments, all of whom play 18 holes of golf. The four lowest scores are counted and added together to represent the team score for the day, thus team scores usually range from 280-320. When the golfers aren't on the road at a tournament, they are practicing at their home course, the Philadelphia Cricket Club. The cold winter forced the team indoors, where they have been hitting into nets and studying videotapes of their swings. The squad has also made use of the new golf simulator in the Pottruck Center, a computer program in which you hit the ball off a mat into a computer screen displaying the course. The program then measures various aspects of your shot, allowing you to play an entire and very realistic round of golf. Coming off his success in the fall and feeling the support of his teammates, Perman is focused on the season. "I'm a senior and this is my last chance," he said. "With the help of the other players, I'm going to be sure we get it done."

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