Women's Golf Takes Third at Nittany Lion Invite

Highlighted by sophomore Anne Cheng’s fifth place finish and a strong Sunday team effort, the Harvard women’s golf team placed third at the 2014 Nittany Lion Invitational this past weekend. As a team, the Crimson shot a 33-over-par 897, three strokes behind Columbia and two strokes behind Yale, after finishing five strokes behind the Bulldogs at last weekend’s Yale Invitational.

The 14-team, three-day tournament took place at Penn State’s Blue Course in State College and also featured Ivy League opponent Princeton, which placed fifth at 47-over-par. Kelsey Murphy of Eastern Michigan captured the individual title by shooting a 218, including a four-under 68 on Sunday. The Lions took the overall team trophy with a three-day total of 894 and also had four players in the top-20.

Entering the final round, Harvard trailed both the Bulldogs and Columbia, having posted rounds of 302 on Friday and 300 on Saturday. However, three Harvard golfers managed to play their best round on championship Sunday to key the Crimson to a 295, the second-best round of any team for the tournament. Junior Christine Lin led the charge with an even-par 72, senior Brenna Nelson carded a two-over-par 74, and junior Courtney Hooton wrapped up her weekend with a six-over 78.

“It was probably our best scoring round just because we knew the course better after two days of playing on it," captain Tiffany Lim said. "Coach lectured us, telling us all our games looked really good [on the first two days and] all we had to do was keep doing that and the scores would eventually keep falling for us.”

However, the effort was not quite enough, as the Lions and Yale each posted sub-300 scores on the final day to edge Harvard on the scoreboard. The Crimson’s top three golfers placed in the top-20 of the tournament, with Cheng leading the way with a five-over 221, freshman Lita Guo placing 16th at 11-over in her first collegiate tournament, and Lim rounding out the trio with a three round total of 228, good enough for 19th place in her first action of the season.

“[Guo] did a really good job of staying positive on the course despite a couple weird holes every now and then," Lim said. "Cheng played amazing as usual, [as] slow and steady wins the race. Brenna put up solid rounds all three days and was a really solid anchor for us, and the juniors [Lin] and [Hooton] played their hearts out.”

Cheng posted another strong performance this weekend after finishing tied for 10th in New Haven. Along with Akron's Frida Fougberg, the sophomore was one of two to post a 75 or better in each of the three rounds.

“Emotionally, I didn’t have any ups or downs,” Cheng said. “I just played my game, [and] concentrated on what I needed to concentrate on.”

Cheng’s posted a 75 in the first round, carding five bogeys. But the Torrance, CA native bounced back in a big way on Saturday with an even-par 72, highlighted by three birdies on the front nine. To round out her weekend, she carded a 74 with two more birdies.

“In the second tournament [of the season], I thought we played a lot better than last week…but we have lots of room for improvement,” Cheng said.“I think we’re just going to keep practicing and keep trying our best to be where we want to be.”

In two weekends, the Crimson will travel to Palo Alto for the Stanford Intercollegiate Tournament. The weekend will be a homecoming for Harvard, as five of the eight Crimson golfers hail from the Golden State.

“We’re not going to be preparing any differently,” Lim said. “We’re just going to keep on practicing, keep on getting rested and trusting that getting those extra reps will help us score better at Stanford.”