Men's Golf Wins Ivy Title

The Harvard Crimson, after competing in New Jersey in the Princeton Invitational returned to the Garden state to compete for the Ivy League Championship. After 3 consistent days down at Metedeconk National Golf Club in Jackson, NJ, the Crimson men’s golf team captured the Ivy League Championship for the first time in 41 years, its third in program history. This is the first year in school history that both the men and women’s golf team captured the coveted Ivy League Championship in the same year.

“We’re definitely feeling great,” captain Rohan Ramnath said. “We put in a lot of hard work this season and in seasons past and we’re really happy to see it come to fruition.”

Despite slightly windy condition on the course in the first day of competition, Harvard played with the same poise they displayed all season. Playing its first round on Friday, Harvard gave itself a cushion as the team scored a 292, nine strokes under their stiffest competition of the weekend, Dartmouth. Harvard would go into the second round atop the leaderboard.

Harvard sophomore Gregory Royston carded an even round 72 in the first day of competition. The South African set the tone for his teammates as they had impressive days as well. Junior Daniel De La Garza and freshman Aurian Capart were only one stroke away as Ramnath was just two.

“It was a matter of committing to the shot and playing well,” Royston said. “We had a great group of guys and it worked out great.”

The Crimson going into Saturday with the comfortable lead looked to stay in the leading position. Despite the impressive play by both Cornell and Yale, who scored 305 and 302, respectively, the Crimson still had a lead at the conclusion of round two. After 18 holes Harvard extended its lead to 10 strokes, Yale coming in second with 608 and Dartmouth and Cornell tied for third with 610. Despite scoring 306, 14 strokes higher than its first round, Harvard’s cushion from the round one proved to be helpful

On the final day of competition Dartmouth matched the score from the first round to give themselves a final score of 911. However, that would not prove enough, as the Crimson would score 309 on the day, to give itself a final score of 907.

“We all stuck to our game plans and had really great approach every single day,” Ramnath said. “We really gave everything, with every shot we had out there and that made the difference.”

Capart came up big for Harvard as he finished first for the team and fourth in the whole tournament with a score of 224. With the performance Capart received First Team All-Ivy honors. The Belgium native finished top 15 in par three, four and five.

“It’s awesome to have young guys step up like that, especially on a high pressure stage,” Ramnath said. “I think it’s a testament to how talented Aurian is and how hard he worked all year.”

Royston had an impressive outing as well as he finished seventh in the contest with a final tally of 226. De La Garza was among the four golfers tied for 10th as a finished with a score of 230. Both Royston and De La Garza earned Second Team All-Ivy honors with their performances.

Junior Robert Deng (+15, 231) and Ramnath (+17, 233) rounded out the group placing tied for 14th and tied for 18th, respectively.