The Crimson linksters struck a bittersweet chord in their season opener yesterday, losing to Amherst by six strokes but blitzing Tufts by 17 blows on the Hickory Ridge layout in Amherst. The squad was buoyed by Jim Dales' effervescent one-over par 73, which earned him medalist honors.

The golfers were severely handicapped by the absence of Alex Vik, Spence Fitzgibbons, and Brett Johnson, who anchor down the first, third, and fourth spots on the team ladder. Vik and Fitzgibbons had an hourly in Anthropology 184, "Geography of the Tropics," a subject quite essential to every golfer who occasionally finds himself searching for the elusive ball amidst latifundia previously untrod by men.

Dales meanwhile was displaying a putting stroke sharp enough to cut teak in the rainforests of inner Borneo. He hit every green in regulation on the front nine and strung together nine consecutive pars.

"For a guy who wasn't with us in Florida but disciplined himself on his own, that's an excellent performance," said coach Bob Donovan.

Deep

Dales was followed by Glenn Alexander who went around in 77 in his varsity debut. Seniors Dave Paxton and Peter Smith both carded 80s, while yardling Chip Raffi racked up an 82. Ron Himelman and Theo Melas Kyriazi fired a brace of 83s. Kyriazi, playing with an injured hand, narrowly missed an eagle on number 18. "We showed we have some pretty solid depth," said Donovan, adding that every round was respectable.

Behind Dales in the parade for individual scoring honors was an Amherst trio of Jim Collins, Tom Mitchell, and Joe Grochmal all of whom crafted 76s. Tom Fagaden also had a 76 for Tufts.

The Lord Jeffs, under coach Tracy Mehr, himself a former Massachusetts amateur champion, are a New England Division Two powerhouse on the links.

Dales never committed a miscue en route to humbling the 7,000-yard-long Hickory Ridge course. He parred every hole going out except for the second, where a three-putt cost him a bogey.

He picked up a birdie on the 13th, a 395-yard par four with water guarding the green. Dales nailed a two-iron off the tee and feathered a nine-iron in for a gimmie putt. He saved par on the next hole when his explosion shot from a greenside bunker landed stony.

Dales still had a closing salvo in store. He birdied the par three 17th when he bladed a 30-foot putt dead center in the cup. On the final hole he drilled a two-iron that bored into the spongy green like a bullet going through a cream puff, but his birdie putt hung on the lip of the cup.