Women's Golf Gets Kinks Out

Putt, putt and away.

Last weekend, the Harvard women's golf team played in its first tournament of the season, the Dartmouth Invitational in Hanover.

Harvard placed eighth in the field of 13 teams, scoring 733. Touranament honors went to Princeton, with a two-day total of 635.

Captain Alexis Boyle, senior Megan Murray, juniors, Suzanne Ranere and Chirsty Nielsen and sophomore Jocelyn Bosivich played for Harvard. Boyle (88-97) and Ranere (90-87) were the top scorers for the Crimson.

"It was our first tournament, and we've a very young team in comparison to a lot of other programs," Boyle said. "Still, we'd hoped to play a little better because we know we have potenital.

In contrast to the rain and snow that often interrupt New England tournaments, the Crimson was treated to sunny days.

"The conditions were great, we definitely can't blame that," Boyle said. "I think that people were just a little nervous starting out."

But though the weather cooperated, the style of the course may have contributed to Harvard's difficulties.

"The course is built into the side of a mountain, so there were a lot of breaks, and the greens were very fast," Ranere said. "That made it hard to read some of the putts."

Harvard also had to come into the torunament having had only two days of practice. The Crimson has a chance to use the experience from Dartmouth for a better performance this weekend, the Yale Invitational.

"We're looking for some great improvement this weekend," Harvard coach Warren Smith said. "It's a matter of just coming together a little bit."

Ranere agrees.

"We're very hopeful about our next tournament. Yale is probably the toughest course we play, but we've been practicing, and I think that we're more prepared," Ranere said.

Harvard's women's golf program is only four years old, but its successful future seems assured.

"[Smith] has done a good job of promoting the program. We've been able to successfully recruit more, though we're limited now because the program is so young," Ranere said. "But we can start winning some of these tournaments in five to 10 years." DARTMOUTH INVIT. 1. Princeton  635 2. Yale  642 3. Hartford  656 4. Dartmouth  661 5. Rutgers  663 6. Boston Coll.  696 7. St. Francis  728 8. Harvard  733 9. Mt. Holyoke  743 9. Boston Univ.  743 11. Amherst  756 12. UNH  839 13. Bryant  995