Linksters Sweep MIT, Bates

The Harvard varsity linksters bounced back from last Saturday's dismal loss to Princeton and Yale with a runaway victory over MIT and Bates yesterday at the windswept Brae Burn Country Club in Newton.

Not a single player managed to break the 80 mark on the tight and chilly Brae Burn layout, scene of the U.S. Women's Open Championship in 1972.

Crimson senior Ron Himelman grabbed medalist honors with an eight-over 80 to lead Harvard to a five-man aggregate of 416, good enough for a four-shot win over MIT. The bedraggled Bates contingent finished a distant third, with a 436.

Himelman, who has placed first for the Crimson in two of its first three outings, started off by parring four of the first five holes and looked to be cruising towards a mid-70s performance. But the precipitous 145-yd., par 3 sixth stopped the linkster's charge, costing him three strokes and blowing his hopes of shooting par.

After Himelman gorillaed an eight iron 30 yards over the green, he pitched his second shot back over the carpet and into a ravine. Rather than suffer a penalty shot, however, Himelman entered the hazard barefoot and, in Nicklausian fashion, hammered the spheroid safely onto the putting surface. But the Leverett House senior wasted his watery acrobatics by three-putting the sloping green for a triple bogey 6.

Himelman recovered quickly from the debacle, going one under par for the remainder of the nine and firing a four-over 41 on the back side for an even 80 and first-place honors.

"Ron has been the guy who's kept us together this year, and today was no exception," Crimson co-captain Jim Dales said after the match. "He always played so bad last year because he was pre-med, but now that he's into med school all he thinks about is golf."

MIT number-one-man Mike Verrall took second place with an 81, while veteran Crimson linksters Carroll Lowenstein and Chip Raffi fired 82 and 83, respectively. Lowenstein was robbed of a good round on the 13th when a 50-mile an-hour gust knocked his tee shot out of bounds.

Raffi also hit it well enough to fire in the 70s, but ruined his chances with his "blacksmith" putting touch. After a solid 38 on the front side, the Winchester native three-putted four times on the back side, finishing with a 45.

"I left it short so many times I'd better start lifting weights." Raffi lamented following the holocaust. "I don't think I'll ever get it up to the hole again in my life."

Dales followed closely behind Raffi with an 84, while four-man Tom Edwards rounded out the Crimson's official total with an 87. Sophomore Leslie Griese posted an 89 in her season debut.

Dales, who has hit the skids since returning from the squad's Florida roadtrip, scorched to a 38 the front nine, but, like Raffi, he lost his putting touch on the back, taking 46 blows on the final nine.

The linksters will face Rhode Island on Thursday at the Duxbury Country Club.