Men's Golf Drops Disappointing Games to Princeton, Yale

Harvard is fortunate that U.S. News and World Report doesn't evaluate schools on the strength of their golf teams.

On a cold Friday afternoon at Duxbury Yacht Club, Harvard finished third behind Yale and Princeton in the annual "Big Three" grudge match.

Playing in a stroke-play format in which the five lowest scores are added together, the Crimson shot a collective 395, 15 strokes behind the first-place Elis (380) and eight strokes behind the second-place Tigers (387).

"We're the three best teams in the Ivy League," co-captain Joel Radtke said. "We just didn't play very well. Nobody turned in a performance like they're capable of."

The weather proved to be a major factor; although Harvard held a slight "home-field advantage," having played at Duxbury on several occasions this season, the Crimson was not prepared to play in such cold conditions following a spring break trip to California. Conversely, Yale, which had travelled to Scotland, adapted much more easily to the adverse climate.

However, the Harvard players resisted the temptation to make a scapegoat of the weather.

"We've had a lot of people who've been struggling, even in California. Not many people came back with a clear mindset of how they're going to play," Radtke said. "A lot of people went out there without a clear idea of what they were doing."

Radtke paced the Crimson with a 76, a score which could have been lower if not for the slow greens.

"They had not mowed the greens [after Thursday's practice round]," Radtke said. "I left everything short."

The Harvard co-captain fired a 38 on both the front and back nines in a round highlighted by an eagle from 140 yards away on the par-four seventh hole. However, Radtke missed numerous birdie putts which could have offset his six bogeys.

Junior Luis Sanchez shot a respectable 78, despite shooting 41 on the back nine.

Sanchez, who was one-under par after six holes, hit his drive out-of-bounds on the seventh hole and finished with a triple-bogey seven. Although he temporarily recovered with a birdie on eight to bring him to one-over, Sanchez lost the feel on his putter over the back nine, which was playing long, with many of the holes directly into the wind.

"I find it very hard to putt when it's that cold," Sanchez said. "My muscles don't quite do what I ask them to when its very cold."

Sophomore Amar Goel, who is a Crimson editor, was the surprise of the match. Competing in his first-ever collegiate match, Goel shot an 81.

The left-hander, ranked ninth on the team last year, is an accurate hitter with solid short game and avoided any major mistakes in his rookie outing.

"Amar doesn't hit the ball very far, and given the conditions, he did very well," Sanchez said.

Junior Ed Boyda shot a 79, and sophomore Alex Gonzalez finished with an 81 to round out the Harvard scoring.

"I'm happy with how Ed's playing. He's hitting the ball solidly," Radtke said. "And Luis is hitting everything really straight."

Gonzalez finished his round especially strong, firing a 39 on a very difficult back nine.

Still, the negatives far out-weighed the positives; after defeating both Princeton and Yale last season, Harvard expected to win and came up short.

"It was really disappointing," sophomore Andy Rourke said. "Each team has good freshman. They had more depth this year than they did last year. They outplayed us."