SEASON RECAP: On Young Team, Improvement and Leadership Define Season

Judging by the opening tournament of the season, you wouldn’t have thought that this would turn into a successful building year for the Harvard men’s golf team.

In new head coach Jim Burke’s debut, the Crimson had just three golfers ready to play after injury, illness, and Freshman Week deprived the team of four of its players, leading to disqualification.

But the team quickly recovered. Freshman Michael Shore took to the course after Freshman Week and placed third in his second tournament, while classmates John Christensen and Josh Isner played well throughout the fall.

Senior D.J. Hynes recovered splendidly from his knee injury, finishing eighth and 11th in a pair of the fall tournaments.

The team practiced inside the Murr Center through the cold New England winter on a new golf simulator provided by the Friends of Harvard Golf, but it wasn’t until spring break that the team could return to the outdoors in Jekyll Island, Ga., for the first time in five months.

“Over the winter, you pretty much lose all the momentum and confidence you had from the fall,” junior Tom Hegge said.

Improvement after Georgia was readily apparent throughout the short spring season. After a rain-shortened tournament at Yale, Harvard played its best golf of the spring at the New England Division I Championships. The team hung with or beat several Ivy rivals, conveniently peaking the week before the Ivy League tournament.

“We’re all kind of hitting our stride,” Hegge said after the tournament, adding, “We have just as much talent as the other teams, but we just have to put the scores together.”

The next weekend at Ivies, the team improved on last year’s last-place finish, using a final-round 303 and riding a three-under 69 from Hynes to finish tied for sixth in the tournament.

Hynes tied for second overall individually as well, bringing the senior’s Ivy career to an end with a loud bang.

“It was just one of those days when things kind of clicked,” he said after the final round. “I just felt really in control all day.”

Finally, the team traveled down to Rhode Island for one last tournament to close out the season and Hynes’ career.

“It’s kind of bittersweet to end,” Hynes said after finishing 15th overall in his final tournament.

“It was great to finish on a high note at the Ivies last weekend,” he added.

Better, the team’s sixth-place finish at the final tournament was a solid conclusion to the season.

“It was about leaving a good taste in our mouth as we head to the summer,” Hegge said.

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