Following Hot Start, Men's Golf Falters

In its first tournament of the 2012-13 season, the Harvard men’s golf team came out strong, finishing in a tie for second place after one round of the McLaughlin tournament held at the Bethpage Red Course in Farmingdale, N.Y.

But that was the closest the Crimson came to the lead, as Harvard finished in 11th place out of the 16 teams competing throughout the weekend, with an overall team score of 872 strokes, 32 strokes over par.

Auburn led the tournament, which was hosted by St. John’s, with 830 strokes, at ten under par, as freshman Jake Mondy and senior Michael Hebert were the top two scorers on the weekend at -8 and -6, respectively.

The Tigers were 11 strokes ahead of second-place Louisville and 28 strokes ahead of third-place Johnson and Wales (Fla.). The Crimson was 42 strokes behind the victor.

“This was a very good field—probably one of the best that there’s been at this tournament in years,” sophomore Seiji Liu said. “Definitely all the teams have gotten a lot deeper.… Backing ourselves against these players is great for us to develop as a team.”

Junior captain Theo Lederhausen was the top scorer for the Crimson, finishing in a tie for 26th place with 216 strokes, six over par. He also had the low round of the weekend for Harvard with his opening score of 68.

Liu was the Crimson’s second-best finisher, posting a +8, good for 36th place, while junior Kevin McCarthy closely followed with a score of 219, putting him in a tie for 44th place.

Sophomore Akash Mirchandani completed the team scoring for Harvard with a 51st-place finish and a +11.

Junior Michael Lai also competed and earned a score of 228 strokes as an individual, putting him in a tie for 71st.

Through the windy conditions and hard greens, the Crimson was able to surpass Columbia–who finished in 15th–but was bested by Ivy League rivals Dartmouth and Princeton, which finished in ties for fifth and eighth place, respectively.

After one round of play, Harvard found itself six strokes off the lead in a tie for second place with Johnson and Wales at +5. Auburn led the pack with a score of 279.

Lederhausen led the Crimson with a score of 68, tied for third best overall in the opening round.  Only Wildcat junior Jason Harris and Mondy had better scores, with scores of 66 and 67, respectively.

“I putted pretty well all weekend, which was important for me because I wasn’t hitting it great. I was chipping and putting well, which is a good sign going forward.”

Second best for Harvard was Liu, who was tied for 10th with 70 strokes.

McCarthy and Mirchandani rounded up the scoring for the Crimson with 72 and 75 strokes, respectively. Junior Michael Lai finished with a score of 79 in round one.

After the first round, the Crimson led all Ivy League rivals, leading the Big Green by seven, the Tigers by eight, and the Lions by nine. Though several teams finished their second rounds on Saturday, play was eventually postponed due to darkness.

“It was very grueling playing 36 holes in the first [day] and finishing basically in darkness,” Liu said. “So I think our team’s mental strength has improved a lot, and that’s something I really worked on to improve as the season has begun.”

The remaining holes of the second round were played early Sunday morning, after which Harvard found itself trailing leader Auburn by 25 strokes, finishing with 579 strokes at +19, tied for sixth place with Binghamton and Loyola Marymount.

McCarthy displayed consistency in the second round with another score of 72, the Crimson’s best for the round, placing him in a tie for 22nd place.

Liu followed up with a 73, putting him in a tie for 16th place with Lederhausen, who shot a 75 in his second round, moving his total score up to 143 strokes on the weekend.

Mirchandani improved in the second round, shooting a 74, while Lai completed the scoring for Harvard with 76 strokes.

Under recently named head coach Kevin Rhoads, who has coached the women’s squad for eight years, the Crimson will look to improve in the coming weeks of the fall season.

“I think that the steps that they’ve taken are leading us in the right direction,” Liu said. “It’s too soon to tell, but I think that it’s definitely a positive at the moment. But it’s obviously going to take some time to see the results of this change.”

—Staff writer David A. Mazza can be reached at damazza@college.harvard.edu.