Match Play Comes Down to the Wire

For those who don’t know it, golf is a leisure sport of rolling greens and polo shirts. But those familiar with the game know the kind of tension and pressure it entails.

Just ask sophomore Connor Wentzell. With Harvard and Penn tied 2-2 on Saturday, the entire fate of the match rested on his performance.

The Crimson, a six seed, had already defeated third-seeded Dartmouth and was looking for a crack at the finals against Yale. Tied after 18 holes of play, Wentzell faced off against Penn’s Bryant Williams in extra holes. After Williams birdied the second extra hole, Wentzell and the rest of the Harvard squad were relegated to the consolation match against Columbia—which was eventually rained out—at the Ivy Match Play tournament at Bay Club in Mattapoisett, Mass.

“I didn’t lose it, but the other kid won it,” Wentzell said. “I did everything I could, I didn’t make mistakes, he just played a little bit better on the last hole.”

While Wentzell may not have gotten the Crimson the victory against Penn, his play had already helped the team to a 3-2 victory against Dartmouth that morning.

Wentzell, number four, and Louis Amira, number five, took care of business early, winning their two matches, which took the pressure off the top three golfers, senior Greg Shuman and sophomores Mark Pollak and Tony Grillo.

“It was a good insurance for the rest of the guys,” Wentzell said. “They were able to take it easy and play with more confidence.”

After defeating the Big Green, the Crimson took on the Quakers and encountered difficulties early as Wentzell and Grillo went down quickly, and Amira seemed to be losing control of an early lead. Grillo and Amira both rallied to win, but losses by Shuman and Pollak forced Wentzell’s match against Williams into the spotlight.

Wentzell had rebounded from his early deficit and was tied with Williams after 18 holes. On the first extra hole, Wentzell was able to get on the green quickly.

“Connor hit an unbelievable approach,” Shuman said.

But he was unable to capitalize and missed his putt for a birdie. Luckily for him, Williams did the same.

Hitting into the wind on the second extra hole, Wentzell settled the ball 20 feet from the cup. Williams was also able to close in on the hole, getting the ball within 12 feet.

“When Connor got the ball 20 feet from the hole, we thought we had it,” Pollak said. “Then the Penn guy got it to 12 feet.”

Once again, it came down to putting.

Just as on the first hole, Wentzell, missed his chance at a birdie. But, this time Williams sunk the put.

“It was really electric,” Pollak said. “All of [Williams’] teammates went kind of crazy. It was a lot of fun, even though it didn’t go our way.”

This weekend marked the first time that Harvard had played match play golf in over forty years, according to Wentzell. Match play means that holes are scored individually and that the matches of all five players count toward the final score. In the more common stroke play, the top four matches are counted toward the final score, which is an accumulation of all the strokes at each hole.

“Match play works for people who are more erratic,” Shuman said. “Every hole is a new match.”

In stroke play, one bad hole could ruin an entire match. In match play, a golfer could shoot a ten on a hole to another player’s three, and it would be no worse than if he had shot a four.

“In match play, you can make high numbers,” Shuman said. “All in all, you’re still trying to play the best golf you can. I play with a lot more ease. I’m not worried about the final score. The one shot you hit is all that matters. What happened on the hole before, what’s going to happen on the next hole doesn’t matter. You’re playing for one hole. It’s just an entirely different game.”

Another way match play alters the game is that it forces a player to think about his own score in relation to his competitors.

“It’s more personal, much more competitive,” Pollak said. “In stroke play, you’re just playing the course. How other people do doesn’t matter until you get to the clubhouse. In match play, you really feel like you’re in the competition. You attack the course in a different method based on what your opponent is doing. There’s always a winner and a loser. You always have competition to judge your performance against. It’s more akin to football and basketball.”