Women's Golf Places 14th Against Tough Field at Stanford Intercollegiate

Facing off against some of the toughest competition in the nation, the Harvard women’s golf team finished tied for 14th place out of 17 teams at this weekend’s Stanford Intercollegiate.

The Crimson ended the tournament, which consisted of three rounds in as many days, with a total team score of 892 (+40) at the Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif.

“I’m quite pleased with our result,” Crimson coach Kevin Rhoads said. “This was a fantastic field with many of the top-ranked teams in the country. We know we can be quite competitive in this kind of field.”

Harvard’s best round came on the second day of competition, when the team combined for a 290 (+6), 14 fewer than its first-round total and eight fewer than in the third. The team score was tied for the sixth best of the day, five shots off the leader.

“We played great in the second round, and our good rounds are very good,” Rhoads said. “We just need to finish off our ‘medium’ rounds just slightly better in order to keep us more in the national conversation.”

USC took home the team title with an overall score of +5. The Trojans, who led after each day of competition, were consistent throughout the tournament, posting single-round scores of 286, 285, and 286.

USC freshman Kyung Kim captured the individual title, posting a seven-under-par 206 in the three-day tournament.

Second-place Washington finished three strokes behind the Trojans, and the host Cardinal ended tied for third with Oregon State.

Junior captain Bonnie Hu, who is a Crimson business editor, was the top scorer for the Crimson, coming in 29th. Hu posted three consistent rounds, and like Harvard, the junior’s best performance came in the tournament’s second day, when she shot a one-over-par 72.

In the first and third rounds, Hu notched scores of +2 and +4, respectively.

Hu made only one double-bogey and ended the tournament at +7.

“There were some parts of my game that I was not completely happy with,” Hu said. “But there were other parts that I was really happy with. I think overall I played well and was really happy with how I did.”

Sophomore Brenna Nelsen was the second lowest scorer for Harvard. Although Nelsen, who is also a Crimson sports comper, struggled in her first round, Nelson recovered to finish at +9, two strokes behind Hu and tied for 36th place.

The Crimson’s third-place finisher, freshman Courtney Hooton, shot the same first- and second-round scores as Nelsen and took advantage of four second-round birdies to post a score of 225 (+12).

Harvard’s final scorer, freshman Christine Lin, finished one shot behind Hooton, and sophomore Tiffany Lim rounded out the Crimson squad, shooting three identical, six-over-par rounds.

The field at the Stanford Intercollegiate was almost entirely composed of schools from the western part of the country.

Aside from Georgia, Harvard was the only team from the east.

Many of those schools competing were also in the preseason top 25.

“It was really good [to go up against such big schools],” Hu said. “They were all great players, and we really appreciated the opportunity to measure ourselves against them. It was definitely a much harder tournament, but I think we did well.”

Despite the prime talent at the competition, only four players finished under par for the tournament, a testament to the difficulty of the course.

Consistency was a key to success throughout weekend, and players who found it usually were rewarded—each of the top seven finishers only made double-bogey or worse on a hole once.

Because four out of the five Crimson golfers hail from California, the trip west also provided the players an opportunity to compete in familiar surroundings.

“It was really nice,” Hu said. “Parents and family and friends all came out to watch us, so it was really great. It was a nice change from what we usually experience on the course.”

After taking third and second place in two earlier tournaments this season, the Stanford Intercollegiate marks the end of fall play as the team prepares to shift its focus to the upcoming spring season with a productive few competitions under its belt.

“I think we improved [over the course of the fall],” Hu said. “This is the strongest field of any tournament in the country. I do think that as a team we did well, and I think we showed all these other schools we have a good team.”