Men's Golf Finishes Middle of the Pack at Princeton Invitational

After opening with a fifth-place start, the Harvard men’s golf team was unable to improve on its first round and finished sixth out of 14 teams with 885 total strokes at the Princeton Invitational at Springdale Golf Course this weekend.

While the Crimson led Yale by two strokes after the first round on the par-71 course, the Bulldogs had three golfers at-or-under par in the second round for a six-under total score, a comeback that allowed the team to win the tournament for the third year in a row with 868 strokes.

“Yale obviously had an amazing second round,” Harvard coach Kevin Rhoads said. “They had everything go their way and they obviously like it [at Princeton]…. A couple things didn’t go our way, and we didn’t react as well as we could have.”

The Invitational was unique in that the first and second rounds were played all in one day, rather than spread out over two, and created the challenge for each golfer of playing 36 holes in one day.

“We were generally pretty pleased with how we played,” captain Theodore Lederhausen said. “We stumbled a little bit in the second round yesterday after a long day. Overall, we were doing everything we [could], and we look forward to Ivies.”

The duo of Brandon Matthews and Matthew Teesdale from Temple University tied for the individual title, shooting four-under over three rounds for a score of 209. Bulldog Brad Kushner rounded out the podium at two-under with the only other performance under par, while his teammate Sam Bernstein trailed him by just three strokes.

A somewhat difficult course consistently caused troubles for the Harvard golfers.

“The biggest challenges came on the putting green,” Rhoads said. “The greens are very sloped there, and the holes are in tricky positions.”

Lederhausen posted the sole top-ten finish for Harvard, tying for seventh place with 217 strokes, four above par. Lederhausen began the tournament the same way he did last weekend in Phoenix, shooting even par to put him in fifth place.

“[Theo’s] game is nicely rounding into form,” Rhoads said. “He looks a little more confident every day. He’s hitting better every day. That’s why he had a very solid tournament.”

The junior had a tougher time in the second round, shooting six-over on the front nine but closing the gap to five above par by the end of the round. His four birdies on the final day of the tournament helped him card a third round score of 70.

“Overall, it felt really good,” Lederhausen said. “It was a good tournament, and I was happy with how I played all weekend. I got a little tired at the end of the first day, as I hadn’t played 36 holes in a while.”

Junior Michael Lai turned in the second best result for the Crimson, with the only other top-20 finish, hitting eight above par for the weekend.

Two strong rounds allowed Lai to enter the second day of competition just two strokes above par, but three double bogeys in the final round set him back six strokes.

“Michael started a little bit higher today, but his first two rounds were very good,” Rhoads said. “He didn’t putt quite as well today, but he’s also rounding into form very well. The putter got a little bit cold today.”

The remaining three golfers finished within nine strokes of Lai. Freshman Rohan Ramnath and sophomore Akash Mirchandani tied for 24th place, both with a score of 224, while freshman Un Cho rounded out the group with 230 shots in 43rd place.

“I’m very happy with how they played and what they’ve been doing,” Lederhausen said. “Rohan’s been great. Both freshmen worked super hard this winter and definitely improved their play this spring. It’s a small team, and so we need every player. I’m confident in them, as with everyone.”

Harvard’s sixth-place finish placed the squad fifth of the eight Ivy League teams competing. The team will receive a weekend off before its season-ending league championship tournament.

“I like the direction things are going, and we’re trending in a good way, so we need to build on that the next few weeks going into Ivies,” Rhoads said.

—Staff writer Cordelia F. Mendez can be reached at cordeliamendez@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonCordelia.