Golfers Pose Threat For the Eastern Title

The golf team left for State College, Pa., yesterday frothing with enthusiasm and really believing it can win the Eastern Intercollegiate Championship this weekend. And it might.

But none of the smart money will be on the Crimson. Penn State -- last year's winner and perennial powerhouse of the East - is playing on its home course. The Nittany Lions are favored by a land-slide.

The rest of the competition is good too. Twelve teams finished ahead of Harvard last year when the Crimson ended up 42 strokes behind Penn State's winning total of 803. That meant a Harvard average of little over 84 shots per round.

Crimson Better

Harvard is a lot better this year, and its 8-2 record shows it. But foes like Army, Navy, and Yale have to be placed above Harvard in the speculation. Cornell -- a team the Crimson whipped this season -- finished third in the Easterns last year Yale was second.

This year's scores are bound to be lower, because last year's tourney was played in raw and rainy weather. Harvard golfers are talking 75's. A 750 total would win, but it is not certain that the Crimson can shoot what it talks.

Bo Keefe, tremendously improved, is aiming at Bruce LoPucki's number one match-play spot Keefe, individual champ at the Greater Boston Intercollegiates last week, has a 9-1 match record.

Sinclair GBI Second

Captain Bruce McGuinn, who plays third, sports an 8-1 mark and has been playing in the 77 range lately. So has-Bob Sinclair, who, with a 9-1 mark at sixth position, took second in the GBI's

The only real tough competition Harvard has faced so far this year is Cornell. Yale and Princeton are coming up but they will both be at Penn State this weekend and we may get a preview of what those matches will be like.