W. Linksters Finish Seventh

After a cold and rainy tournament last weekend at Dartmouth--where the Harvard women's golf team finished fifth in a fifteen-team tournament--the weather gods pitied the Crimson by providing sun this weekend at the Yale Invitational.

Unfortunately, the gods of the greens were not as merciful, as the Crimson finished seventh in the sixteen-team tournament.

That seventh place finish is not as disappointing as it sounds, however, considering that freshman Jocelyn Bozivich called the course "the most difficult golf course I have ever played," and that the young Crimson managed to beat respectable teams from as far away as California--all the while basking in welcome golden rays.

That seventh place finish came despite a rough opening round for the Crimson, who were tenth after the first day of play.

Mistakes like Bozivich's disqualification on the first day after accidentally playing the ball off fellow teammate Megan Murphy '97 only contributed to the obstacles that the Crimson faced going into the second day.

"The first day was rough for all of us, except Alexis, who shot an 64," sophomore Christina Nielsen said.

However, the Crimson rebounded in style, posting scores of 88, 91, 92, and 94 on the second day to climb up to seventh in the rankings.

Junior Alexis Boyle shot a solid 84-91--175 to lead the Crimson.

"I was really impressed with the way that the team finished," Bozivich said.

The difficulty of the course made the Crimson's finish all the more promising.

"Yale is a long and difficult course with many blind shots and guesswork to the green," Nielsen said.

The Crimson defeated Notre Dame, Long Beach, and Wolfred (from North Carolina), en route to its seventh-place showing. This was the first time that the Crimson had ever competed against west coast teams.

"The Yale coach really drew a competitive field for this year's invitational," Bozivich said.

The Crimson mini-triumph came partly as a result of teamwork.

"We really worked well as a team at this tournament," Bozivich said.

Motivation also factored heavily into the Crimson's finish. This motivation came despite the fact that the Crimson had to wake up at 5:30 A.M. each morning and be ready to hit the links at 7:00 A.M.

"We were motivated and ready to play," Nielsen said.

The young Crimson squad's results so far have been impressive because of the inexperience of both the team as a whole and the players. The team has only been around for two years, while its competitors have fielded teams for several years.

The team also has many inexperienced players. Junior Harlan Fabrikant just picked up a golf club for the first time last fall. And the lone freshman on the team, Bozivich, is still trying to make the transition from high school golf.

"The transition from high school is more difficult than it looks due to the longer courses and trickier pin placement," Bozivich said.

This young team hopes to have only good things in store. Next weekend the Crimson will receive a much needed rest from the links.

On October 43 it returns to play against a similar field as in the Yale Invitational at the Mount Holyoke Invitational. And the Crimson is received up to go and confident of its ability to take on the field.

"I'm sure we'll kick some butt at Mount Holyoke," Bozivich said.

If both the weather gods and greens gods are willing, her prediction may well come true.