Wet Weekend Hampers Crimson at Yale Tourney

In their first tournament of the spring season in the northeast, Harvard’s men’s golf team got a wet reception. Heavy downpours on the course at Yale forced the cancellation of Saturday’s portion of the two-round Yale Spring Opener, and the Crimson finished 16th out of 20 teams in the abbreviated tournament.

Fifty-four of the events’ 115 players had completed rounds on Saturday before the round was called, but no Harvard golfers had finished.

As a result, the tournament rested on just yesterday’s round of play, and conditions were little better than the day before.

“The course was pretty beat up today,” sophomore Sam Lissner said. “The greens were rough and very spotty. The greens were basically un-puttable for at least some of us.”

One Crimson player who didn’t struggle was senior D.J. Hynes, who shot a 74 on his way to a top-10 finish.

“Having done this for four years, I can kind of roll with the punches a little bit better than some guys,” Hynes said. “I’ve played two tournaments a year at Yale, so I have some more course knowledge than a lot of the guys.”

Junior Tom Hegge came in with an 82, while freshman Michael Shore carded an 85. They were followed in the Harvard finish by sophomore Andrew Livingston with an 89 and Lissner, who reached the clubhouse with a 95.

Oklahoma Christian University took the team title with a 302, 28 shots better than the Crimson’s 330.

All of Harvard’s Ivy League rivals who attended the tournament finished ahead of the Crimson. Dartmouth was No. 2 at 305, Yale finished No. 8 with a 314, Cornell was No. 9 with 318, and Brown was No. 11 with 320.

The results could be significant as the Crimson looks to improve on last season’s No. 8 finish at the Ivy League Championships, to be held in just two weeks.

“I think we’ve got freshmen that are going to improve our standing,” Hynes said. “Hopefully we’ll have good weather over the next two weeks, and hopefully guys can get out and figure out what’s ailing them.”

The team returns to action next weekend at the New England Division I Championships, held in Providence, R.I.

—Staff writer Brad Hinshelwood can be reached at bhinshel@fas.harvard.edu.