Crimson Finishes First in Tourney

Yesterday afternoon, many Boston-area students studied outdoors while sunbathing in near-60-degree paradise that perhaps suggested a change of heart in New England’s most fickle friend, the springtime weather.

Meanwhile, Harvard women’s golf was 40 minutes from campus at the Thorny Lea Golf Club in Brockton, Mass., finishing up a strong performance at the 2009 Brown Invitational that was crafted in spite of poor overall weekend conditions. Of the many sports that are altered by wind and crippled by rain, golf is by nature one of the most vulnerable.

Nonetheless, the Crimson overcame a rainy Friday and dismal Saturday skies to finish first overall with 611 total strokes for the weekend, a commanding 35 strokes ahead of second place Boston College.

Harvard senior Emily Balmert finished first place overall individually, with scores of 74 and 70 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Freshman Christine Cho came in eight strokes behind her for second place overall. Junior Sarah Harvey and sophomore Mia Kabasakalis came in third and fourth, and the Crimson had every one of its players in the top 13.

Home field advantage is non-existent in golf, as players from the Boston area prefer to travel south when the spring season starts.

Wind conditions alone are enough to increase stroke numbers and averages at tournaments, as was the case this weekend. That said, Harvard coach Kevin Rhoads was pleased with this weekend’s turnout.

“Weather was certainly a factor this weekend,” Rhoads said. “When it’s the beginning of the season, especially for Northeast golf, any scores in that neighborhood [of 300 total per day] make me happy.”

Statistically, the tournament results were somewhat sporadic. After the Eagles, Dartmouth came in third, followed by Brown in fourth. Boston University was 116 strokes behind Harvard in fifth place. The average stroke gap between teams was above 20.

“Those schools do a great job—they played well,” said Rhoads. “As it was, I really wanted us to move forward with things that we were working on and we did that.”

Crimson golfers have done quite well this year, both in the fall and spring seasons.

This past fall, Harvard finished first at the Dartmouth, Princeton, and Lehigh Invitationals as well as at the Yall Fall Intercollegiate. All but the Lehigh tournament featured over 15 teams.

While Rhoads was eager to give his players ample time to perfect specific aspects of their games, weather was once again a deterrent.

“With all the things that each player needs to work on—ball striking, short game, mental game, how to score—all those areas, when you have bad weather and bad conditions, those are a distraction from moving forward,” Rhodes said.

“It was our first tournament of the spring that was not in the warm California weather,” Balmert said. “In all of our cold weather gear, it’s a totally different type of golf, but we adapted well to the new surroundings.”

Balmert was the only player in the tournament to score under 75 on either day. Despite her favorable individual results, Balmert felt that she could have worked on her putting.

“I think I played well, but there’s always things that you do that you can improve upon,” she said.

Cho, too, was dissatisfied with her putting on Sunday, but feels confident in herself and her teammates moving forward.

“We just need to keep on practicing and sticking to our game,” Cho said.

While casually satisfied with this weekend, the Crimson is looking ahead to its two remaining events in the regular season, which are both in the next three weeks. Harvard travels to New York City for the RoarEE Invitational on April 18th.

The following Friday, April 24th, the Crimson faces higher stakes at the Ivy League Championships in Northfield, New Jersey.

The Crimson must come in first at the Championships to automatically qualify for postseason play.

“A lot rides on whether we win Ivies,” said Rhoads. “A lot of our focus has been [there].”

Given the team’s results in the 2008-2009 year and its demonstrated ability to adapt to tough conditions, the rest of April is looking bright for Harvard.