Crimson Asserts Title Run Mindset

Coming into the final competition of its 2009 fall schedule, the Harvard women’s golf team was feeling confident about its most recent play. Having won its previous tournament at Yale, the Crimson traveled to the Saucon Valley Country Club, located in Bethlehem, Penn., to compete in the Kelly Gutshall Invitational hosted by Lehigh University this past weekend. But with the onset of winter weather throughout much of the Northeast, the Harvard squad was not even sure it would be able to try to end its fall campaign on a high note this weekend.

“The biggest thing for us this weekend was the weather,” captain Claire Sheldon said. “We were anticipating difficult conditions. Snow was in the forecast, so they pushed back the tee times on Saturday, but we got lucky and did not even have rain.”

With clear—albeit cold—skies, the Crimson was able to assert its dominance over four fellow Ivy League squads and five other teams from schools located throughout the Northeast, as the two-time defending Ancient Eight champions took home the team title.

But the victory did not come easy. After 18 holes and the close of Day 1’s competition, the Crimson found itself six strokes back of a strong Columbia Lions squad, having its four scoring golfers combine for a final tally of 318 on the day.

“We don’t really pay attention to other teams out there on the course,” Sheldon said. “We try our best on every shot and being behind didn’t really change our game plan.”

Concerned or not, Harvard responded well on Day 2, improving its day one score by three strokes to finish with a final tally of 633 (318-315-633).

“Playing in rain is not that bad, and playing in the cold is not that bad,” Sheldon said, “but when the two are combined, it is pretty tough to compete out on the golf course, so we were lucky to only have to deal with the cold factor and were able to succeed on day two.”

Columbia finished three strokes back, as Ancient Eight squads took four of the top-five team places after the two days and 36 holes of competition.

Individually, the Crimson were led by highly-touted freshman Katie Sylvan, who bettered a score of 78 on the first day by one stroke on the second day, to finish with a final tally of 155 (78-77-155). The Southern California native placed third overall on the weekend, just a shot back of the lead on the par-72 course.

“Coming from San Diego, Katie had never really played in these types of cold conditions, so that makes her performance that much more impressive,” Sheldon said. “We will continue to look to her to pace the team throughout the rest of the year and into the future.”

Sylvan competed in three of the Crimson’s four fall tournaments, and based on her high school career, should be able to compete with the Ivy League’s best come the spring season.

“It was a difficult adjustment learning how to balance work and golf in college,” Sylvan said, “but you have to do the best you can, and it has so far been a great experience.”

Sheldon shot a pair of 79s to place in a tie for eighth with a score of 158 on the weekend. Rookie Chloe Altchek and sophomore Christine Cho rounded out Harvard’s scoring golfers, both shooting +16, which was good enough to earn them both a tie for 12th place among the 48 competitors that finished the 36 holes of play.

“This was Chloe’s first tournament for us this season,” Sheldon said. “She was a little more used to the conditions coming from New York and was able to compete well.”

Junior Mia Kabasakalis was Harvard’s final competitor and shot 169 (86-83), which earned her a tie for 26th place.

The Crimson will now rest throughout the winter months and prepare for the main portion of its schedule in the spring.

“The fall went really well for us,” Sheldon said, “but other teams also played well. This will help keep us motivated throughout the winter because we know we are going to have a competitive spring season.”

—Staff writer Thomas D. Hutchison can be reached at tdhutch@fas.harvard.edu.