Women's Golf Continues Winning Ways in Florida

Though a new year has begun for the Harvard women’s golf team, one thing remains the same—the squad’s ability to win.

Honing their games in the Sunshine State over spring break, the two-time defending Ivy League champions kicked off the 2010 season in sparkling fashion Thursday afternoon, taking down Central Florida, 303-314, at the Red Tail Golf Club in Sorrento, Fla.

The 11-stroke victory over the Golden Knights on one of their home courses—on which the Crimson was playing for the first time—marked the third straight win for Harvard, which had closed out its 2009 fall campaign with top finishes in both the Yale Fall Invitational and the Kelly Gutshall Invitational.

The steady play continued this week after a long winter of indoor training, as the top three finishers in the head-to-head friendly competition were all representatives from Harvard. Each team’s best four scores were counted.

“We’ve been putting in a lot of work, and it showed pretty well,” captain Claire Sheldon said. “Obviously we’ve still got some work to do, but it was definitely a good start to the season.”

Freshman Katie Sylvan led the way by shooting a 73, good for one-over-par on the 6,195-yard course. The rookie led all golfers with 15 pars and was one-under on par 3’s.

“[Sylvan] is just an incredibly talented player, and could easily be one of the best players to come through this league,” Sheldon said of the standout newcomer. “She’s naturally so skilled, and I’m not at all surprised that she came out of the gate as strongly as she did.”

“She can put up low numbers, and I’m not surprised by that,” Harvard coach Kevin Rhoads added. “She knows how to bring it when she needs to in a game-time situation.”

Crimson sophomores Christine Cho—the reigning league Rookie of the Year—and Jane Lee each finished three shots behind Sylvan to tie for second place, ahead of Golden Knight freshman Valentina Fontaine, who led her squad with a five-over 77.

“I played really well,” Lee said of playing outdoors for the first time since the fall. “I was really surprised, actually...I didn’t really know what it would be like being outside again, but to play well is definitely a confidence booster for the upcoming season.”

Thanks to an eagle, Lee was the only golfer under par on the par 5’s.

“The course was really hard, and it was much longer than we’re used to, so it was pretty tricky in some spots,” Lee said, “but I think everyone felt their game had improved since we’ve been here.”

Just behind Fontaine was Sheldon, who shot a 78 to tie for fifth, along with two members of Central Florida.

Following the eighth- and ninth-place finishers, both of whom were Golden Knights, freshman Chloe Altchek shot a nine-over 81, and junior Mia Kabasakalis and senior Sarah Harvey rounded out the day with an 88 and 90, respectively.

All six of Harvard’s players recorded birdies on the afternoon.

“I’m very pleased for this stage in the season to get a good result like we did yesterday,” Rhoads said. “To start fairly sharp is a good indicator. It’s encouraging, but it’s very much about where do we go from here, where do we go in the next five or six weeks.”

As is always the case, the Crimson’s top priority is improving its skills in preparation for Ivy competition. The team next plays at Lynn on March 27.

“We’ve talked a lot about being in your ideal performance phase,” Rhoads said. “Having an actual result is pretty far removed from the things that we can control. I’m really more looking at our controllable factors, and the results take care of themselves…the score just ends up being a byproduct of those things.”