Harvard Peaks in Tune-Up For Ivies

In their final tune-up before the Ivy League Championships next weekend, the Crimson men’s golf team turned in its best performance of the short spring season.

Harvard finished in a tie for 11th in Providence, R.I. at the New England Division I championships, behind the eventual winner of the tourney, Binghamton.

The two-day total of 611 came on the strength of two consistent rounds of 305 and 306.

“We now have the younger guys playing better,” senior Tom Hegge said.

“Mike [Shore] played well both days, John [Christensen] had a good second day,” he added. “D.J. [Hynes] played well like he has all year. Those three guys are definitely ready to play.”

Freshman Michael Shore led the way for the Crimson, carding rounds of 75 and 74 on his way to a 17th-place tie among individual finishers, eight shots back of winner Jeff Wolniewicz of Binghamton.

“The competition is a lot better [in college],” Shore said. “And it’s on such a consistent, weekly basis, that it’s not really where I finish, but it’s what I can do. Whether I’m a freshman or not, it doesn’t have any impact on how I approach the game.”

Not far behind was senior D.J. Hynes, who added rounds of 74 and 78, good enough to tie for 29th place overall. Mirroring Hynes was freshman John Christensen, who carded rounds of 78 and 74 to tie for 29th.

Hegge reached the clubhouse on Saturday in a tie for 58th on the strength of rounds of 78 and 80. Rounding out the tournament scoring for the Crimson was senior James Cleary, whose rounds of 90 and 80 placed him in a tie for 76th.

Among the 16 teams in attendance were three other Ivy squads that Harvard will face next weekend.

Yale finished fourth with a 597, but trailed the Crimson by two shots after day one. Brown finished in fifth, but led Harvard by just three shots after the first day.

Dartmouth finished tied for 11th with the Crimson, rounding out the promising results as Harvard looks to improve on last season’s last-place finish at the Ivy League Championships, which will be held next weekend in Hamburg, N.J.

“We’re all kind of hitting our stride,” Hegge said.

“We have just as much talent as the other teams, but we just have to put the scores together,” he added.

Princeton won the event comfortably last year, with Cornell, Penn, Columbia, and Brown tightly bunched in second through fifth place. Dartmouth and Yale were sixth and seventh, respectively, with the Crimson eight shots back of the Bulldogs.

But this year looks to be much different for the Harvard.

“I don’t know what the situation was last year,” Shore said, “but I don’t think we’ll finish eighth.”

After the Ivy championships, Harvard will travel to Newport, R.I. for the URI Invitational.

—Staff writer Brad Hinshelwood can be reached at bhinshel@fas.harvard.edu.