Men's Golf Places Eighth at Michigan

The Harvard men’s golf team opened its fall season this weekend with an eighth-place tie among 11 teams at the Wolverine Intercollegiate tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich.

After two days of play, the Crimson climbed from ninth place place to tie Xavier by the end of the third round. While Harvard did not face any Ivy League competitors, the challenging field proved to be stiff competition for the team. The University of Michigan and Pennsylvania State University finished at the top of the field, placing first and second, respectively.

“The results were not exactly what we wanted nor where I think where our level is,” coach Kevin Rhoads said. “I definitely liked what I saw in terms of what we could do with what we had. The guys really stayed in it well…[but] we’re just not quite sharp yet. We just need to continue what we’ve been doing, and if we do I will be pretty comfortable with where we end up.”

The University of Michigan Golf Course, considered among the best collegiate golf courses in the country, featured 6,704 yards for 18 holes and a par of 71.

“This is a course that is not overly long but required local knowledge and much more strategy,” Rhoads said. “We were definitely trying to incorporate that when we saw the course during the practice round, but we got more used to it as we played. If we go back next year, I will like our chances even better than they were this year.”

Michigan started strong in the first round of the tournament and took the lead early with a score of 278 strokes, six under par. The Wolverines continued to dominate the course through the second and third rounds for a total of 845, seven under par.

A strong third round contributed most to the Crimson’s jump from ninth to eighth place, in which Harvard was able to reduce its overall score by 20 strokes, to a five-over-par mark of 289.

“Every day we got better,” Rhoads said. “We made better decisions and the scores went down so everything was quite good, and we will try to get better.”

In the individual competition, Michigan’s Kyle Mueller claimed the tournament champion title. Mueller ended round three with a score of 206, seven under par and just one stroke ahead of runner-up Cody Blick of San Jose State University. Mueller’s teammate Chris O’Neill led the tournament’s individual standings until the third round, when he shot seven-over to fall to sixth.

Harvard junior Rohan Ramnath was the highest-placing Crimson entrant, placing 31st with a score of 219. Ramnath hit seven birdies and 35 even pars over three rounds. Scoring one stroke over him to tie for 32nd place was Harvard sophomore Kendrick Vinar, who hit the Crimson’s only eagle of the tournament in addition to ten birdies.

“Our coach imparts this philosophy of controllable factors and focusing on the things that we can control,” sophomore Kendrick Vinar said. “I tried to work on this all week, and I was really pleased today. I think it’s a good perspective because if you do all the things that are in your control the best you can, you get to walk away regret-free.”

Sophomore Daniel De La Garza and captain Akash Mirchandani tied for 47th place, each exceeding par by 10 for a total score of 223. Both earned a score of two-over 71 in the third round.

“We were excited to get our season underway and we came here looking to test our game,” Vinar said. “A lot of us haven’t played a ton of golf over the summer, so we just wanted to get out there, assess the level of our game, and focus on our process. I think all of us are leaving this weekend with a lot of positive things to take away and a better idea of what we need to work on for the future.”

—Staff writer Emily T. Wang can be reached at emilywang@college.harvard.edu.