Women Deal, Men Reel at Ivy Tournies

After only two tournaments, the Harvard men’s golf team is already frustrated with its performance. Meanwhile, the Crimson women appear to be cruising.

At the Dartmouth Invitational this weekend, the men finished a disappointing sixth, 28 strokes behind champion Binghamton. The women, for their part, carried the momentum of recent successes at Dartmouth and Princeton to a second-place finish at the Yale Invitational.

MEN’S GOLF

Heading into yesterday’s final round, an outright win may have been out of reach for the men but second place was there for the taking. The Crimson held third place and trailed Central Connecticut State by only three strokes.

Facing temperatures hovering in the fifties and nearly constant rain, the twelve-team field suffered a nearly three-stroke hit to its scoring average. That was little consolation to the Crimson, as its score ballooned 14 strokes from an already disappointing 305 to 319.

Said team captain Tom Hegge, “Part of it was the weather, but I think we all had a bad day as well. It affects everyone equally, so you can’t let it be an excuse.”

In the second round, only two of the Crimson’s five players managed to break 80, while Brendan Ray of Central Connecticut state added a 73 to his first round 71, taking the individual medal and leading his team to a second-place finish.

Harvard freshman Danny Mayer, whose rounds of 77 and 78 made him the highest team finisher at No. 16 overall, echoed the sentiments of his teammates when he pointed to the Crimson’s poor putting as a day-long struggle.

“Our team was probably one of the worst teams this week,” Mayer said. “We weren’t making any putts all.”

Greg Shuman, who shot 79 and 76 to tie Mayer for the lowest individual team round, blamed the team’s woes on an inability to finish strong.

“More than anything,” Shuman said, “it’s just mentality and lack of focus or concentration.”

WOMEN’S GOLF

On Saturday, the Harvard women teed off at the Yale Invitational with the measured confidence that came from finishing in first and second in the team’s first two tournaments of the season.

Despite squaring off against experienced squads from Yale and Princeton as well as four-time defending NCAA Division II Champion Rollins College, the Crimson scored a 306, vaulting it ahead of 11 other teams and securing first place after round one. Emily Balmert, already victorious this year at the Dartmouth Invitational, held the outright lead with a 75.

The team rose to the challenge against the renowned difficulty of the Yale University Golf Course, whose 6,232 yards demanded length off the tee but whose massive, undulating greens called for laser-guided precision on mid- and short-irons.

“The course puts a premium on accuracy, probably most so on the approach,” said rookie Claire Sheldon, who shot a two-day 155. “There are certain places around the green that you don’t want to be.”

Despite an eight-shot improvement over the first day, the Crimson’s 298 fell well short of an astounding 293 put up by Princeton, which was led by eventual medal winner Annika Welander with a one-under-par 70.

Freshman Sarah Harvey, who shot a 149 to lead Harvard, downplayed the significance of the loss.

“We blew the rest of the field away by so much that losing by two didn’t mean as much,” she said. “It was more something to entice us for next weekend. It hurts more when you play terribly and the other team beats you by so much.”