Yale, Harvard tied at the top after two rounds at Stonewall; Brown's Li leads individual standings

   Yale entered the Ivy League Championship at the majestic Old Course at Stonewall, a Tom Doak gem located where East Nantmeal Township meets Warwick Township in northwestern Chester County, having not finished behind an Ancient Eight rival all season.

   The Bulldogs will enter Sunday’s final round atop the team standings, but they have some company in two-time defending champion Harvard. The winner also earns an automatic bid to an NCAA regional.

   I’ve caught a few loops around Stonewall since my career in the newspaper biz came to a sudden end in 2016 and it sounded like it was going to play awfully tough for Friday’s opening round with temperatures struggling to get out of the 40s and a persistent 20 mph wind.

   And Yale grabbed the lead with a solid 20-over 300 over the 6,866-yard, par-70 Old Course, which hosted the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. The Bulldogs added an 18-over 298 Saturday for a 38-over 598 total. But the Crimson, which had opened with a 306, fired a 12-over 292 Saturday, the best round on a day when the temperatures warmed up a little and the wind died down a little, to match Yale’s 298 total.

   Cornell, which carded its second straight 303, is eight shots behind the top two in third at 46-over 606. Penn had a solid opening round with a 301 that left it just three shots behind Yale in second, but struggled a little with a 310 Saturday and is in fourth place at 611, five shots behind Cornell.

   Brown, behind individual leader Kevin Li, a senior from Canada, is fifth at 618 after adding a 304 to its opening-round 314. Dartmouth (317-302) is sixth at 619, Princeton (319-302) is seventh at 621 and Columbia (332-308) is eighth at 640.

   Yale and Harvard both had three players in the top five at the end of Saturday’s second round.

Leading the way for Yale was Will Bernstein, a senior from New York, N.Y. who is tied for third at 8-over 148 after adding a 75 to a strong 73 in Friday’s tough conditions.

   Teammates Eoin Leonard, a junior from England, and Teddy Zinsner, a freshman from Alexandria, Va., are among a group of five players tied for fifth at 10-over 150. Leonard carded a second straight 75 while Zinsner followed up an opening-round 77 with a 3-over 73 Saturday.

   James Nicholas, a junior from Scarsdale, N.Y., is also in the top 10 for Yale, his 11-over 151 total leaving him in the group tied for 10^th. He added a 75 to his opening-round 76. Rounding out the Yale lineup was Henry Cassriel, a junior from Orinda, Calif. who is tied for 18^th at 154 after adding a 78 to his opening-round 76. That 76 was a counter in the opening round.

   Harvard’s Grant Fairbairn, a freshman from what is apparently a golf hotbed in Orinda, Calif., led the way for the Crimson as he is tied with Yale’s Bernstein for third at 148. Fairbairn battled for a 1-over 71 Saturday after opening with a 77.

   Two more Harvard players are in that five-way logjam at 150 that includes Yale’s Leonard and Zinsner. They are Greg Royston, a senior from South Africa who improved off an opening-round 77 with a 3-over 73, and Rij Patel, a sophomore from Hunt Valley, Md. who carded a second straight 75.

   Ryan Rhee, a sophomore from Fullerton, Calif., is tied for 25^th at 158, although that’s a little deceptive because he struggled mightily in an opening-round 85 before coming up huge for Harvard with a 3-over 73 Saturday that had a lot to do with the Crimson’s move up the team leaderboard.

   Rounding out the Harvard lineup was Aurian Capart, a junior from Belgium who is alone in 32^nd place at 162. Capart opened with a 77, but struggled in Saturday’s second round with an 85. The Old Course can do that to you.

   One player who conquered the Old Course Saturday was Brown’s Li, who fired a sparkling 1-under 69 to take over the individual lead. Li made three birdies and two bogeys in the only sub-par round of the tournament. Combined with an opening-round 76, it left Li with a 5-over 145 total.

   That left him two shots ahead of Cornell’s Tianyi (Jack) Cen, a junior from China who added a 2-over 72 to his opening-round 75 for a 7-over 147 total.

   Cen’s teammate, defending champion Mike Graboyes, a senior from Wachtung, N.J., joined the gang of five tied for fifth at 150 after following up a really strong 73 in Friday’s tough conditions with a 77. Graboyes earned a trip to last summer’s U.S. Amateur in Los Angeles out of a qualifier played at the Old Course and the North Course at Stonewall during one long, hot and eventually stormy day.

   Penn had a pair of players in the top 10 as both Josh Goldenberg, a junior from Scarsdale, N.Y., and Mitchell Cornell, a freshman from Incline Village, Nev., are in the group tied for 10^th at 151. Goldenberg added a 77 to a strong opening-round 74.

   Cornell really got it going in Friday’s opening round. Defying the wind and the cold, he stood on the 15^th tee at the Old Course at 2-under. He proceeded to bogey each of the last four holes, but his 2-over 72 gave him the individual lead. I suspect it is a round he’ll treasure as the years go by.

Cornell struggled on the final holes again Saturday, particularly on the deceptively difficult par-4 16^th, and finished with a 79.

   The Quakers’ Zareh Kaloustian, a junior from Sherman Oaks, Calif., is alone in 16^th place at 152 after posting Penn’s best score of the day Saturday, a 4-over 74. He had opened with a 78.

   Carter Thompson, a senior from Tallahassee, Fla., is in the group tied for 22^nd at 157 after adding an 80 to his opening-round 77. Rounding out the Penn five is Amay Poria, a senior from Morgan Hill, Calif. who is alone in 35^th at 166 after adding an 86 to his opening-round 80.

   Maybe nothing says Old Course at Stonewall quite like the first two rounds of Princeton senior Michael Davis, the former Malvern Prep standout playing in his final Ivy championship. Davis is a really good player. He lost in the final of the 2015 BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Llanerch Country Club and made another deep run in the Philly Am the following year at Merion Golf Club’s East Course.

   He knows Stonewall. I’m pretty sure his dad is a member – they’re known as partners at Stonewall -- although Davis generally lists Aronimink Golf Club as his home course. Friday was a disaster for him, an 87 that included a couple of double bogeys on par-5s and a triple bogey on the fourth, which is really easy to do on that short, but difficult par-4. He probably hasn’t signed for a score that high since he was a junior player.

   But Davis came back with the second-best score of the tournament Saturday, an even-par 70. He even gained a little revenge on that devilish fourth with a birdie. He is in the group tied for 22^nd at 157 after that remarkable bounce-back round. He’ll finish a standout career with the Tigers Sunday at one of his favorite courses, other than Friday maybe.