M. Golf Disappoints With 10th Place Finish at New Englands

While Tiger Woods was busy winning his third green jacket this weekend at the Masters, the men of the Harvard golf team competed in the New England Division I Championships at Triggs Memorial Golf Club in Providence, R.I. Though not quite Augusta, the par-72 Triggs posed a colossal challenge to some of the East Coast’s best collegiate golfers.

The Crimson finished 10th out of 19 participating schools, a somewhat disappointing performance from a squad that finished seventh of 46 schools at the NEIGA Championships back in October. Sophomore Andrew Klein, however, emerged with his best performance of the year, finishing tied for 11th of 82 competitors with a 75-77-152.

Klein’s previous best performance occurred last week when he led Harvard at the Yale Invitational with a 13th place finish overall.

The overall winner was Michael Welch from Central Connecticut State, who won by six strokes, shooting 71-71-142 for a 2-under two-day score. The University of Rhode Island (URI) won the team championship.

URI will host Harvard at its annual invitational on April 26 and 27.

The top Ivy League performer was Yale’s Steve Gray, who finished plus-6, shooting two rounds of 75. Yale was also the top Ivy League finisher, finishing fourth as a team. Brown and Dartmouth also competed, finishing sixth and 13th, respectively.

Captain Andrew Malcolm finished 28th overall and second for Harvard with an 80-76-156 overall score. Malcolm was the definitive team leader in the fall, shooting a 71-72-143 in the team’s opening match of the year at Army in mid-September. Malcolm has struggled some in the spring, but improved seven strokes from his round at the The Course at Yale to his round at Triggs and should be ready for the Ivy League Championships next week in Metedeconk, N.J.

Freshman Matt Anis took home third for Harvard, two strokes behind Malcolm at 158 overall (82-76). Sophomore Steven Mungovan was fourth for the Crimson and tied for 57th overall with an 82-81 two-day score.

If Harvard is to win the Ivies, the team’s top three performers will likely have to stay in the 70s during both days of competition. That puts the pressure squarely on Klein, Malcolm and Anis, who have finished 1-2-3 in both of the team’s tournaments this spring.

“I was disappointed in how we played this weekend,” Amis said. “I thought we played poorly on Saturday and we couldn’t get it all back on Sunday. We’re going to have to play much better next weekend to stand a chance. I’d say our top four will need to have rounds in the middle-70s to win the tournament.”

The women’s team will once again see action next week in their Ivy Championships, also at Princeton’s home course in New Jersey.