Men's Golf Stays on Pace in Opener

When a team returns only two of its top five players from the year before, early struggles and unexpected outcomes are normal. But yesterday at the Sebonack Golf Course in Southampton, N.Y., the Harvard men’s golf team showed few early-season jitters and posted a performance that was very similar to the last time the Crimson was on the links in team competition.

In the season-opening tournament for Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, the three teams finished in exactly the same order as they finished at the 2010 Ivy League Championships, with comparable margins. The Bulldogs—last year’s Ivy runner-ups—led the way, taking eight out of the 15 total available points. The Crimson, which took fifth last year, finished in the middle with four. In third with two points were the Tigers, who finished second to last in the Ancient Eight a year ago.

As any mathematician would notice, eight plus four plus two does not equal 15. The discrepancy between possible points and awarded points can be attributed to the fact that Harvard junior Mark Pollak and Princeton’s Bernie D’Amato both finished at the No. 1 spot for their respective teams. Usually in that situation, both competitors are awarded half points, but that was not the case yesterday, as officials elected to give neither player any points. Both Pollak and D’Amato fell to Yale’s Bradley Kushner.

“My performance wasn’t what I hoped it would have been,” Pollak said. “The Yale kid played extremely well. Bernie had a tough time as well, but we ended up tied.”

The other juniors on the team, No. 2 player and captain Tony Grillo and No. 5 player Connor Wentzell, split their competition, defeating their Tiger counterparts but falling to their Bulldog ones.

Grillo topped Princeton junior Evan Harmeling, 4 and 3, but fell to Yale captain Tom McCarthy by the same score. Wentzell defeated Tigers junior Patrick Wasserman, 5 and 4, but fell, 1 up, to his Bulldog counterpart, junior Jeffrey Hatten.

“We all played fairly well,” Grillo said. “None of us have been playing spectacularly.”

Solid play was not enough to get past Yale this weekend, a feat only rookie Seiji Liu was able to accomplish. Liu knocked off Yale’s Brandon Merrick, 6 and 5, and Princeton’s Chase Lovett-Woodsum, 4 and 3.

Liu was named one of Golfweek Magazine’s “20 Freshmen to Watch” last week.

“Seiji was great,” Grillo said. “He’s definitely a promising freshman.”

The other rookie playing this weekend, Theo Lederhausen, did not have the same luck as Liu, losing both of his matches at the No. 3 spot.

Despite his first-match struggles, Lederhausen is expected to be a strong asset to the team this year.

“The freshmen are fitting in really well,” Pollak said. “We can tell [Lederhausen] is a great player. He’s going to contribute.”

“It was a good chance to see our freshmen play,” Grillo added. “I think we did just that.”

This weekend’s tournament, the first of the year, offered all three teams a chance to test their skills. While the hierarchy remains as it was last May, the three teams have a full school year before the results really matter again. For a Crimson team looking to improve upon last year’s performance, the extra time may be just the ticket.

“It’s the first tournament of the year,” Pollak said. “We’re getting started. It’s a learning experience; we hopped back on the horse.”

According to Grillo, there’s no better place to start the season than the Sebonack Golf Course. Designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, the course was named “America’s Best New Course” in Golf Digest’s Jan. 2008 issue. Harvard’s golfers don’t seem to disagree.

“It was definitely the best course we’ve played,” Grillo said. “We were treated great. They couldn’t have been happier to have us. It was definitely the nicest facility—it was definitely the hardest as well.”

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