Women's Golf Finishes Second at Invite

After a slow start at the Nittany Lion Women’s Invitational this weekend, the Harvard women’s golf team stormed back to finish in second place out of 17 teams at Penn State’s Blue Course.

The Crimson trailed only Penn State, which, for the second weekend in a row, finished ahead of Harvard at a tournament.

The Crimson gave its best performance on Sunday, shooting a team score of 284 (-4). This marked Harvard’s lowest single-day team score in the program’s history, according to coach Kevin Rhoads.

Every one of the team’s counted scores was at or below par, lead by junior captain Bonnie Hu, who posted an individual score of 69 (-3).

Hu is now the only Crimson to dip into the sixties so far this season.

“[On Sunday] everything came together,” said Hu, a Crimson business editor. “Everyone played well.”

Sunday’s team play was good enough to give Harvard second place, with the Crimson finishing six strokes ahead of Old Dominion.

Early in the weekend, rain muddied the course, creating problems for players. But by the time Sunday came the course was in prime condition.

On Friday, highly touted freshman Christine Lin shot Harvard’s best score on the day, 73 (+1), leading the Crimson to an overall team score of 303 (+15). Lin finished tied for 11th place with an individual score of 221 (+5) on the tournament.

Sophomore Tiffany Lim led Harvard on Saturday, shooting an even par for the day. The Crimson remained in third place, finishing with a score of 299 (+11).

Lim led Harvard individually, placing in a tie for eighth at +3. Lim finished eleven strokes behind the individual champion, the Nittany Lions’ Ellen Ceresko, who finished at -8 for the weekend, seven strokes ahead of anyone else. Princeton’s Kelly Shon was the only Ivy League representative to finish ahead of Lim, shooting a 215 (-1).

At the tournament’s conclusion, the Crimson boased a score of 886 (+22). Every player finished in the top 30 of the individual standings out of the field of 103.

For the second week in a row, Ivy League rivals Princeton and Yale finished behind Harvard, the reigning Ancient Eight champion.

The Tigers placed sixth, 14 shots back of the Crimson, with a score of 900 (+36), while the Bulldogs shot a 43-over-par 907 en route to ninth place.

No Harvard player posted a score in the 80s on the weekend on a course that competitors averaged a 78.5 per round overall.

Battling poor conditions on the first day of competition, the field averaged a score of 79.5, which all five Crimson golfers finished below. The team also posted five rounds at or below par.

Only champion Penn State notched a better single round than Harvard, turning in a five-under-par 283 in the second round.

For the tournament, the Nittany Lions finished at two under, 24 shots ahead of the Crimson.

Last year, Harvard placed ninth at the Nittany Lion Invitational, its worst performance of its fall season. In the two-day tournament, the Crimson shot a team score of 624 (+48).

Then a freshman, Lim once again led the team, with a score of 151 (+7) over two days. Lim finished tied for 15th place.

On a team with only five players this season, Harvard counts on everyone to contribute.

“The team is not only close-knit socially, but also in terms of skill,” Rhoads said. “Each member’s individual score counted [toward the team score] on at least two different days.”

“Not one player stood out. We all played well.” Hu said.

The team boasts no seniors, relying on a junior captain Hu, two sophomores, and two freshmen.

Hu won last year’s individual Ivy League championship as a sophomore.

The Crimson’s youth has not stopped it from finishing in the top three in both of its tournaments this year.

Last weekend, Harvard placed third behind the Nittany Lions and Nova Southeastern University at the Yale Invitational.

The Crimson will compete in its final fall season tournament in three weekends when it travels to the Stanford Invitational.