Golfers Earn All-Ivy Honors

Both the young and the old had their days in the sun for Harvard this weekend at the men’s and women’s Ivy League Golf Championships, held in Princeton, N.J.

Captain Andrew Malcolm earned himself All-Ivy honors by finishing in the top seven. His three-round total of 223 (72-78-73) tied him for third overall among the top 40 golfers in the Ivy League. Malcolm played his best golf of the spring, finishing five strokes behind Princeton’s James Milam, the tournament winner.

On the women’s side, it was a freshman that made headlines. Jeen-Joo Kang shot a 79-85-82 over the weekend, tying her for fifth overall and earning a spot on the All-Ivy Team.

As a team, the Harvard men’s squad finished fourth of the eight Ivy schools. Princeton, as expected, won the tournament on its home course, shooting a cumulative 30-over 894 over the three rounds. The top four golfers’ scores on each team are added up each round, and the three rounds are then added to form a total score. Harvard shot a 303-314-315 to finish 66-over, 36 strokes behind the Tigers.

Freshman Matt Amis had accurately predicted before the tournament that Harvard would need to shoot three rounds of about 300 in order to stand a chance of dethroning Princeton, which won its third straight Ivy Championship.

Harvard was only five strokes behind first-round leader Dartmouth after the tournament’s first day. Malcolm’s round of even par led the way for the Crimson, as the team put itself in position to make a run at the tournament title.

Round two proved to be the “moving” round as Princeton took a commanding lead while Harvard fell back in the pack. Milam shot the low round of the tournament, a 2-under 69, leading the Tigers to a total score of 288, 26 strokes better than Harvard’s Saturday effort. Sophomore Andrew Klein, however, shot his low round of 75 in the second round. Klein finished 10th overall, shooting 76-76-78 for a 13-over 229.

Freshman Chris Wu tied for 23rd with a score of 237 (77-78-82) while Anis was 29th overall at plus-26 (78-84-80-242).

The women’s team finished fifth out of six Ivy squads. Yale dominated the tournament, finishing 17 strokes ahead of second-place Princeton. Princeton’s Avery Kiser won the individual portion of the tournament by 10 strokes, shooting 73-76-77 for a three-day total of 10-over-par.

Harvard ended the tournament 89 strokes behind Yale and never threatened. Nevertheless, Kong made a name for herself as a rising star in the Ivy League and should anchor Harvard in years to come. Kang was 30-over for the tournament.

Sophomore Meredith Chiampa was Harvard’s second high scorer. Chiampa was nine strokes behind Kang, good enough for 13th overall. Freshman Carrie Baizer and sophomore Elisa Schaar finished third and fourth, respectively, for the Crimson. They were 25th and 26th overall in the tournament.

Although their Ivy seasons are complete, both teams are in action again this Friday. The men’s team travels to Rhode Island for the URI Invitational. The women play at the Orchards Country Club for the Massachusetts Intercollegiates.