Men's Golf Takes Fourth at Doc Gimmler, Ramnath Sets Crimson Mark

The newest members of the Harvard men’s golf team made a name for themselves in the first contest of the 2015 campaign as freshmen Aurian Capart and Seiya Liu tied captain Rohan Ramnath as the top finishers for the Crimson.

Additionally, Ramnath’s first-round score of 64 matched the Harvard program record for the lowest single-round score.

Opening its fall slate of play this weekend, Harvard traveled to Farmingdale, N.Y., to take part in the Doc Gimmler Invite hosted by St. John’s University at the Bethpage State Park Red Course.

After playing 54 holes over the two-day stretch, the Crimson placed fourth of out nine teams, with a combined score of 846. Ancient Eight rival Yale came out on top as a team, shooting an 825, putting the Bulldogs 15-under par. Johnson and Wales ended in second place, 13 strokes behind the champions.

St. Thomas Aquinas just squeaked out a third-place finish over the Crimson, finishing one shot ahead of Harvard with a score of 845. Fellow Ivy League competitor Columbia placed sixth.

After shooting a 275 in the first round as a team, Harvard positioned itself in second place, only three strokes off the pace set by the Bulldogs. However, the second round was not nearly as kind to the Crimson. The team shot a 291, 11-over par for the course and the third-worst team score for the round. As a result, the team dropped a few spots down the leaderboard.

“The second round comes on the back end of a long day featuring 36 holes of competition,” Ramnath said. “This was our first time playing two rounds in a day this fall, so some of our guys were a bit tired out there, and I think that’s a trend you saw among other teams as well.”

Harvard was able to finish the third round at an even par 280, keeping it at plus-6 overall and locking in its fourth-place finish, 21 strokes behind the Bulldogs.

On the individual side, Ramnath, Capart, and Liu finished in a tie for 13th, shooting a plus-2 over the three-round tournament.

Ramnath fired a first-round score of 64, placing him atop the leaderboard, one shot ahead of Yale junior Li Wang. However, Wang pulled away in later rounds, while Ramnath strugged in the second round relative to the stellar first-round score, shooting at 75. Wang ultimately finished as the individual champion with a 9-under score, three strokes better than fellow Bulldog Jonathan Lai. Yale ended up fielding four of the invite’s top eight individuals for the weekend.

“I think overall there are a lot of good things we can take away from this weekend,” Ramnath said. “We would’ve liked to have played a bit better, but seeing our freshmen perform so well is certainly promising for us moving forward.”

Consistency was key for the two Harvard rookies, with Capart shooting a 70, 71, and a 71 over the three rounds, while his cohort Liu fired a 68, 72, and 72.

“The team has been very supportive of us [freshmen] since day one,” Capart said. “Our coaches and administrators had us ready to go, and we’ve had a lot of help getting adjusted and acclimated to the team. The transition has been extremely smooth.”

Also making up the scoring team for the Crimson were juniors Robert Deng and Kendrick Vinar, finishing tied for 25th and 40th, respectively. Deng started the weekend slowl with scores of 73 and 74, but a final-round 67 helped him jump 14 spots up the leaderboard.

“I’m really excited to be a part of this team; I think it’s the best team we’ve fielded ever,” Ramnath said. “We’re really feeling good about how things are going, and I think at the end of the year if we keep improving we’ll be in a place where we can take on anyone.”

“Our end goal for this season is to win an Ivy Championship,” Capart said. “But we just have to take it one week at a time, get stronger throughout the season, and progress to the level where we can accomplish that goal.”

—Staff writer Jed Rothstein can be reached at jrothstein@college.harvard.edu.