Crimson Excels in Desert Classic

Southern California was the spring break destination of choice for the women’s golf team, which showed it could handle the heat just fine.

The lone East Coast representative in a battle of California schools, the Crimson competed in the Desert Individual Classic last Friday and was by no means left out in the cold.

Taking on players from Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis and UCLA, the Harvard contingent held its own in the 18-hole individual tournament, held at the famed Stadium Course at La Quinta, a par 72, 6,166-yard course. Two Crimson golfers placed within the top eight, and four within the top twelve.

“It was a really successful day,” coach Kevin Rhoads said. “All the other teams can play through the wintertime, and we’re trying to shake off rust...to be as sharp, at least for a day, as some of those other schools is very encouraging.”

The squad’s overall performance was especially impressive considering UCLA is the nation’s top-ranked team, and Berkeley and Stanford are both within the top 25.

In fact, although it was not officially a team event, if the tournament had been scored in the usual team format, the Crimson would have placed second, merely two strokes behind UCLA.

Senior Emily Balmert led the way for Harvard, shooting a two-over 74, good for a tie for third place.

Compiling a solid scorecard of two birdies, two bogeys, and one double bogey, Balmert was only one stroke off medalists Pia Halbig from Cal and Tiffany Joh of UCLA.

“Shooting two-over-par the first time you ever see a golf course is pretty impressive,” Rhoads said. “It was a really, really solid round.”

Crimson freshman Christine Cho was not far behind, placing in a tie for eighth place with a five-over-par 77, and classmate Jane Lee and junior Claire Sheldon rounded out the top dozen, both finishing with seven-over-par 79s.

Cho was actually even par on the front nine, accumulating three birdies, but she went five-over on the final leg of the course. A double bogey on her last hole provided a disappointing finish to what could have been one of the top three rounds of the day. Nonetheless, it still was a positive showing from the rookie.

“My putting helped me out a lot, but the double bogeys messed me up a little bit,” Cho said.

Fellow freshman Lee impressed her coach as well with an impressive display of consistency on the big stage.

“I’m really pleased with Jane shooting 79,” Rhoads said. “Her results were up and down in the fall, and they’ve been up and down so far on our spring trip. She has a lot of potential and when she puts it together, she can do things like what she did [Friday].”

For her part, Sheldon overcame difficulties with her long game all day.

“She said she drove it okay, but she did not hit solid iron shots,” Rhoads said. “On a course like this, to not be approaching well and still shoot a pretty darn good score—that’s very impressive.”

Sophomore Mia Kabasakalis finished with an eight-over-par 80, tied for 17th, and in 20th place was senior Ali Bode with an 82.

Juniors Caroline Vik and Sarah Harvey rounded out the pack with 93 and 97, respectively.

With its West Coast swing now over, Harvard must readjust to the conditions of its home turf.

“Now we’re going to go back to the norm—which is not very many repetitions, and when we do play, it’s a lot colder...so we need to transition as quickly as we can,” Rhoads said.

The Crimson jumps back into action at the Brown Invitational at Brockton, Mass. this weekend.

—Staff writer Dennis J. Zheng can be reached at dzheng10@college.harvard.edu.