Strong Start, Rough Finish for Golf

Last fall, both the men's and women's golf teams began their seasons strong. However, as the seasons wore on for both teams, poor weather, fatigue and harder competition made this spring a disappointing finish to a promising start.

For both teams, a definite strength going into the 2000-1 season will be the combination of veteran experience, solid recruiting and underclass performance. If all components come to fruition, the Crimson has reason to be optimistic about the prospects for next year.

Men

The Crimson men began the fall season in prime form.

October proved to be the best month for Harvard with three strong showings over four tournaments. At the Toski Invitational, played at the Hickory Ridge Country Club, the Crimson finished sixth out of a strong field of 26 teams.

The ensuing weekend, Harvard improved upon its performance at the Toski by finishing third at the ECAC Tournament.

The Crimson followed that respectable showing with an impressive third at the New England Intercollegiate Golf Association (NEIGA) Championships and capped a phenomenal three-week success streak.

"The high point of our season was definitely at ECACs and NEIGAs," said junior co-captain Matt Dost. "Despite the strong start to the season in the fall, however, our spring season was disappointing."

The Crimson stumbled early in the spring season with a 10th-place finish among 26 teams at the Yale Invitational. Later in April, Harvard finished a lackluster seventh out of eight teams at the Ivy Championships at Princeton. In all, the expectations of continued success went unfulfilled in the second half of the season.

"The spring was tough for our team and we didn't do as well as we would have liked," said junior co-captain Kaj Vazales. "The weather was harsh--only one out of eight days had fair conditions--and we didn't execute well on the course."

However, the Crimson men look forward to increased strength next year with the blossoming of freshmen Joe Jackson and Neal Hegge.

"We will be counting on the contributions of Joe and Neal as well as the good play of our four returning seniors to start us off well next year and give us a shot at qualifying for NCAAs," Dost said.

Dost and Vazales will be return in familiar roles as next year's captains.

Women

The women faced a similar trend to the men in their season--solid team play in the fall followed by flagging stamina in the spring.

At the Dartmouth Invitational, Harvard's first tournament of the year, the women placed ninth in a field of 18. Despite this slow start, the Crimson found increased success at the Mount Holyoke Tournament (sixth out of 15) and at the Rutgers Invitational (seventh out of 13).

At Rutgers, the women set the team record for a low-round score with an opening-round 343.

"We all played consistently at Rutgers and had a blast," said sophomore Maureen Shannon, who is also a Crimson editor. "Although we weren't winning trophies, it was a rewarding experience."

And although Harvard's strength wore off in the spring portion of the season, culminating in a fifth-out-of-six finish at the Ivy League Championships, the women still express hope for the future.

"With the two recruits we have coming in, I'm definitely excited about next year," Shannon said.

The Crimson women will be captained next year by junior Marcie Chan.