Crimson Golf Takes Second at Tourney

Though the leaves are still browning into their autumnal hue, the fall season is already over for the men’s golf team. Harvard traveled to Charlestown, R.I., this weekend for its final event of the season, the Northeast Invitational at the Shelter Harbor Golf Club.

Billed as a preview to the Ivy Championships in the spring, the tournament featured 16 teams, including all of the Ancient Eight.

Due to consistent play, the Crimson took second place in the event, topped only by three-time defending conference champion Columbia.

“We were happy with how we played,” junior captain Tony Grillo said.

After a 12th-place finish at the Big 5 Invitational last week and seventh-place finishes in the MacDonald Cup and the McLaughlin earlier this season, Harvard came into the tournament looking to finally showcase its depth. It got what it wanted as Grillo and freshmen Seiji Liu and Theo Lederhausen finished in the top 20 individually.

“[Liu and Lederhausen] have been playing fairly solid all year,” Grillo said. “As far as myself, I just started hitting the shots I was trying to hit.”

Liu shot a +8 on the tournament, bouncing back from a 77 in the opening round to fire a 73 yesterday and tie for 19th place. Lederhausen finished +4—good enough to tie for seventh place—thanks to a 74 on Saturday and a team-low 72 to close out the tournament.

“We have the experience [of playing difficult courses in tough conditions],” Liu said of himself and Lederhausen. “We know how to grind it out and put up a number. It might not be pretty, but we can still put up a good number.”

But Grillo outshined the freshmen. The captain shot even par to open the tournament, with 16 pars, a birdie, and a bogey on Saturday. He finished the day one stroke behind URI’s Taylor Fontaine at the top of the leader board—a performance all the more impressive because it took place in horrible conditions.

“In the first round, [the temperature] was low 40s, and the wind was blowing 35 miles an hour,” Liu said. “It was a test of survival.”

Yesterday, Grillo picked up right where he left off, and, had it not been for a triple bogey on the 10th hole, he might have won the tournament. Nonetheless, the junior finished the afternoon with a 73 for a two-day total of 144, tied with Fontaine and Navy’s Ben Hayes and one stroke behind Dartmouth’s James Pleat and Hartford’s Matt Smith, who tied for first place.

Grillo’s classmates Connor Wentzell and Mark Pollak struggled in the conditions, carding a 157 and 163, respectively.

“It was mostly because of the extremely crazy weather,” Liu said of his teammates’ difficulties.

Regardless of the weather, Shelter Harbor itself proved to be a challenge.

“You had to be conservative on almost every shot,” Liu said. “One wayward shot could destroy your round because there were a lot of stone walls, boulders, fescue, long rough. You name it—there were a lot of things the designers put up there to minimize your chance of doing well.”

As a team, Harvard came in second with 597 strokes, nine shots behind the first-place Lions. Penn finished in third with a 598, and the Midshipmen (601), Big Green (603), and Hawks (603) rounded out the top five.

“It takes a fourth or fifth guy playing well to win a tournament,” Grillo said. “That’s what kept us from winning this week, even though three of us played fairly well.”

Out of the remaining Ivies, Princeton tied for eighth, Cornell finished in 10th, Yale tied for 11th, and Brown came in 13th. The event provided a glimpse into the spring when the Ancient Eight will come together to determine a league champion.

“This is a very big way for us to end the season,” Liu said. “We’re a lot more confident of ourselves now and know that, if everyone plays well, we can win almost any tournament.”

“We know that we’re good enough to win Ivies this year,” Grillo said. “Columbia was on [this weekend]. They’ve won [the Ivy Championship] the past three years, so we definitely know they’re the one we have to get.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.