Saving the Best for Last

The final tournament of the fall provided a bittersweet end to an up-and-down season for the Harvard women’s golf team, which placed second in the Harvard Invitational this weekend.

Following the first round of play Saturday, the host Crimson held a slim lead over the rest of the field—composed of the seven Ivy competitors—but rival Yale overcame a three-stroke deficit during yesterday’s final round to take home the tournament’s top prize.

“We still feel pretty good about what we did this weekend,” Harvard coach Kevin Rhoads said. “It was probably the best we played for a complete tournament this fall and in pretty tough conditions.”

Freshman Bonnie Hu once again led the way for the Crimson, contributing a two-day score of 148 (+4), good for second place overall.

“My ball-striking was decent, and my putting was pretty good,” Hu said. “I didn’t really make too many mistakes.”

Captain Mia Kabasakalis, who turned in a 154, was the team’s next-best finisher.

“I definitely played a little bit better this week, especially the first day—given the conditions,” Kabasakalis said.

Rookie Fritzi Reuter (156), sophomore Katie Sylvan (158), and junior Christine Cho (160) rounded out the scoring for Harvard.

The squad battled through rough conditions on the first day to grab the tournament lead with a 303.

“[Saturday] it was really, really, really super windy, and it was really hard, because the wind kept changing directions,” Hu said. “It was hard to choose which club to hit, because one minute the wind would be in your face, and the other minute it would be downwind...you’re standing there and you don’t feel stable at all, even when you’re putting.”

But the squad could not sustain its momentum through the final day, shooting five strokes worse and opening the door for Yale to capture its third victory of the fall.

“We just sort of struggled [yesterday], but it’s just one of our little dips,” Hu said.

Led by standout freshman See Heo Moon, the Bulldogs shot a team score of 303 in their second look at the par-72 International Golf Course in Bolton, Mass., giving them a total of 609—two strokes better than the Crimson’s final total.

Already the individual leader after turning in a two-over 74 Saturday, Moon bettered it with a scorching career-low 66—a round that included her first-ever hole-in-one.

“Today she just played really amazing,” said Hu, who has known Moon since junior golf. “She didn’t make any mistakes. She pretty much hit every single fairway, every single green, and made a lot of putts. It was fun watching her, because she played really well.”

Penn came in a distant third at 625, 14 strokes behind the hosts.

While it appears that Harvard and Yale are currently neck-and-neck—the Crimson bested its archrival by just one stroke at the Nittany Lion Invitational two weeks ago—the tournament gave a glimpse of how the league leaders compare to the rest of the Ancient Eight.

“From what it’s looking like, Yale is about as strong as anyone; we’re about as strong as anyone,” Rhoads said. “Yale and us may be bunched kind of close together, and Princeton, Penn are not very far behind.”

Harvard now heads into the winter offseason having collected zero wins this season—a clear departure from last fall’s two first-place and one runner-up finishes.

“Last year we were where we wanted to be throughout the fall,” Rhoads said. “This year we know that we’re not where we want to be.”

Despite the stinging second-place finish, the squad emphasized the strides it has made during the fall season after coming out of the gate slowly last month.

“We were definitely disappointed [with the weekend],” Hu said, “but I think so far this whole season we’ve been steadily improving, so I feel good going into the spring season.”

It is clear, though, that the Crimson has its work cut out for it before it resumes competitive play in March.

“We need to work very hard in the offseason, probably harder than we’ve ever worked in the offseason, if we want to be at the top of the league by the end of the year,” Rhoads said.

—Staff writer Dennis J. Zheng can be reached at dzheng12@college.harvard.edu.