Golfers Cop Easterns; 1st Time in 40 Years

After 40 years of domination by Penn State, Princeton, and Yale, the Eastern Intercollegiate Golf Crown finally belongs to Harvard.

The Crimson golfers broke a four year Penn State winning streak Saturday when they fought back from a 15-stroke deficit midway through the 36-hole tournament at Princeton to snatch the team trophy from the favorites.

Astounding Third

Sophomore Yank Heisler led the Crimson surge with a 73-78-151 total. His score made him third lowest qualifier for the individual championships held Sunday and Monday.

Heisler was only one of three Harvard men to make the 16-man play-off field. Junior Bruce LoPucki fired a 80-74-154 total to qualify fifth, and Jack Purdy shot 74-81-155 for seventh.

Heisler went all the way to the semifinal round Monday before he fell 4 and 3 in match play to Princeton's Mike Porter. In preliminary rounds, the sophomore star knocked off Penn State's number one man, John Geiger, and Cornell's top golfer Bob Pattison.

LoPucki won his first match, but bowed to Geiger in the quarterfinals; Purdy, also a sophomore lost his first match in Sunday's play one down on the 18th hole.

The team championship is computed on the best of five scores of each team's seven entries. Heisler, LoPucki, Purdy, Tommy Wynne, and captain Bo Keefe put together a 778 total for the 36 hole tournament.

Princeton finished second at 788, Penn State third at 789, and Navy a distant fourth at 794, 16 strokes off the pace.

Trip to Albuquerque

The victory at the Easterns netted Harvard the top invitation to the National Championships on June 17th in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If the athletic department approves, this will be the first time Harvard has gone to the Nationals since 1930.

In the team championships on Saturday, the Crimson was running a poor fifth during the morning rounds. Wynne, LoPucki, and Keefe were all shooting in the 80's: but in the afternoon, a heavy drizzle cut into the leaders' scores while Harvard charged back into contention with steady mid-70's play.

Both Keefe and Wynne ended the day with 159 totals, just one stroke off the qualifying score for the individual playoffs. Keefe went 82-77-159 and Wynne 85-74-159.