Crimson Golfers Return to Form

A team that’s accustomed to winning, the Harvard women’s golf team found itself in unfamiliar territory when it did not finish in the top half of competitors in its first two tournaments of the season. Much to the Crimson’s relief, the downward trend turned out to be just a short detour.

On its trip to Pennsylvania this weekend, Harvard found its way back to the top tier, finishing tied for fourth at the Nittany Lion Women’s Invitational in its first year participating in the tournament.

“I think we showed definite improvement over our last two starts,” captain Mia Kabasakalis said. “We had a rockier start than we have had in the past. It was good to have everyone shoot the scores we know we can shoot.”

After a team score of 309 put the Crimson in sixth after the first round, Harvard posted a score of 297 in the second round and moved into a tie for fourth with William and Mary by the end of Saturday.

The third and final round, which took place yesterday, did not separate the Crimson from the Tribe. Both squads notched a 307 to remain tied for fourth.

“We got off to a not-so-good start,” Crimson coach Kevin Rhoads said. “The 297 was a good second round. I was pleased with how we played.”

In that round, Harvard’s top four golfers all shot below 80. Kabasakalis and freshman Bonnie Hu both shot scores of 73 to lead the team.

For Hu, the 73 was the highlight of a sixth-place individual finish. The rookie posted a 74 in the first round and a 75 in the final round.

“I felt like I played pretty well,” Hu said. “I hit a lot of fairways and greens in general.”

Hu describe the course as long, but the length seemed to play into her hands. The freshman was strong enough to get onto the green with few shots, giving her room to breathe with her putter.

“She played very well,” Rhoads added. “I’d say her [scores] could’ve been even lower. She hit the majority of the greens [early]. She had a lot of birdie cuts that were hit correctly, hit well, but didn’t go in.”

Perhaps Rhoads was thinking about the birdies that might have been because the second- through sixth-place teams finished within four shots of each other.

Had three of Hu’s unlucky putts gone her way, the Crimson would have finished tied for second with Western Michigan University. Just one fewer shot would have put Harvard tied for third with Rollins.

But while it let the Broncos and the Tars slip out of its grasp, the Crimson may have won the close battle that meant the most to it, topping Yale by a single stroke. Harvard beat the other Ivy League school, Columbia, by 29 strokes. The Lions finished 12th overall.

“It’s certainly good to be the top Ivy school,” Rhoads said. “And yet we want to be better.”

The other Lions, the Nittany ones from Penn State, took the overall lead after the first round and never looked back.

The team won its home tournament by nine strokes, led by Emily Ransone who finished second overall.

Rollins’s Fabia Rothenfluh was the overall winner.

Kabasakalis and junior Christine Cho finished tied for 21st, a score they shared with Penn State’s Giulia Carando.

“Mia hit[ting] 73 in the second round [is] representative of the way her game is going,” Rhoads said.

Sophomore Katie Sylvan, who placed 37th, was next in line, followed by junior Jane Lee, who wound up tied for 57th.

All five of the Crimson’s golfers placed in the top four for Harvard at least once, meaning that the performances of all five factored into the top-five finish this weekend.

Harvard will rely on that kind of depth in two weeks when it hosts its final fall tournament at The International in Bolton, Mass.

“It was good to see what we’re capable of,” Kabasakalis said. “Well, we’re capable of doing better.”

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.