Yale will begin defense of its Ivy League crown Friday
coming off two straight team successes, one last weekend at the Princeton
Invitational and again Saturday on is home course in The Yale Spring
Invitational.
But Penn keeps getting closer to the Bulldogs and will carry
a little momentum of its own to Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township,
N.J., the course at which Reading’s Chip Lutz finally nailed down a win in the
2015 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, for this year’s Ivy League Championship.
With overnight rains forcing a delayed start to Saturday’s
scheduled 36-hole test over The Course at Yale, the campus golf course designed
by Seth Raynor, with help from his mentor C.B. Macdonald, against which all
other campus layouts are measured, the field of 12 six-man teams somehow
managed to sneak in two rounds before the sun set in New Haven, Conn.
I’m guessing the six-score-five format late in the season is
designed to give the coaches involved one last chance to decide their first
five for the conference championship to come.
Yale struggled a little in the opening round Saturday
morning, spotting Siena 11 shots with an 11-over 361 total. But the Bulldogs
came storming back, led by senior captain James Nicholas of Scarsdale, N.Y., to
match par in the afternoon with a 350 for an 11-over 711 total.
Bucknell shaved 10 shots off its opening-round 363 with a
3-over 353 in the afternoon to claim runnerup honors with a 16-over 716 total.
Penn was six shots better than Yale in the opening round
with a 5-over 855 before falling back with an afternoon 362 to finish a shot
behind Bucknell in third at 17-over 717. The Quakers took runnerup honors, 14
shots behind Yale, at Princeton and finished just six shots behind the Bulldogs
Saturday.
Siena, led by individual champion Jack Brown, a sophomore
from Hudson, N.H., matched par in the morning with a 350 to lead the field
after 18 holes, but backed off with a 368 in the afternoon to finish a shot
behind Penn in fourth at 18-over 718.
Harvard improved three shots off its opening-round 361 with
a 358 in the afternoon for a 19-over 719 total that left the Crimson a shot
behind Siena in fifth place.
Nicholas, who shared the Ivy League individual title with
teammate Eoin Leonard, a senior from
England, a year ago at Stonewall’s Old Course, made his final Yale Spring Invitational round count. He fired a 4-under 66 on the classic 6,825-yard, par-70 layout Saturday afternoon after opening with an even-par 70 to finish tied for second in the individual standings at 4-under 136, two shots behind Brown.
England, a year ago at Stonewall’s Old Course, made his final Yale Spring Invitational round count. He fired a 4-under 66 on the classic 6,825-yard, par-70 layout Saturday afternoon after opening with an even-par 70 to finish tied for second in the individual standings at 4-under 136, two shots behind Brown.
Darren Lin, a freshman from Chino Hills, Calif., backed up
Nicholas as he added a 1-under 69 to an opening-round 71 to finish in a tie for
sixth at even-par 140. Paul Stankey, coming off an individual title in the
Princeton Invitational, also posted an afternoon 69 after opening with a 2-over
72 to finish among a group of five players tied for eighth at 1-over 141.
Teddy Zinsner, a sophomore from Alexandria, Va. who was the
runnerup a week earlier at Princeton, matched par in the afternoon with a 70
after opening with a 73 to land in the group tied for 18th at 3-over
143.
Leonard added a 76 to his opening-round 75 to end up in the
group tied for 52nd at 151. Rounding out Yale’s six-man lineup was
Jordan Weitz, a junior from Rockville, Md. who added a 78 to his opening-round
76 for a 154 total that left him in the group tied for 60th at 154.
Siena’s Brown passed the considerable test presented by The
Course at Yale with a pair of 3-under 67s for a 6-under 134 total that gave him
the individual crown.
Joining Yale’s Nicholas in the tie for second at 4-under 136
was Penn’s Josh Goldenberg, a senior who, like Nicholas, hails from Scarsdale,
N.Y. Goldenberg opened with a sparkling 4-under 66, which matched the low round
of the day, and added an even-par 70 in the afternoon.
Bucknell’s Jubal Early, a senior from Charlotte, N.C., added
a 2-under 68 to his opening-round 70 to finish alone in fourth place at 2-under
138. St. Bonaventure’s Danny Gianniny, a sophomore from Pittsford, N.Y., was
another shot behind Early in fifth place at 1-under 139 after adding a 1-under
69 to his opening-round 70.
Gianniny’s teammate, Brent Morgan, a senior from Coal Grove,
Ohio, joined Yale’s Lin in a tie for sixth at even-par 140 as Morgan posted a
pair of 70s.
Bucknell junior Peter Bradbeer, the Friend’s Central product
who has a Golf Association of Philadelphia major on his resume with his 2017
Patterson Cup victory, fired a 3-under 67 in the afternoon after opening with a
74 to join the group tied for eighth at 1-over 141 along with Yale’s Stankey.
A couple of Harvard players, Ryan Rhee, a junior from
Fullerton, Calif., and Grant Fairbairn, a sophomore from Orinda, Calif. who was
competing as an individual, also landed in the quintet tied for eighth at 141.
Both players carded an afternoon 71 after matching par in the opening round
with a 70.
Rounding out the group tied for eighth at 141 was Siena’s
Jared Nelson, a freshman from Rutland, Vt. who opened with a 2-under 68 before
adding a 3-over 73 in the afternoon.
Backing up Goldenberg for Penn was Zareh Kaloustian, a
senior from Sherman Oaks, Calif. who fired a 1-under 69 in the morning before
adding a 73 to finish in the group tied for 13th at 2-over 142.
Mitchell Cornell, a sophomore from Incline Village, Nev., matched par in the
opening round with a 70 before adding a 74 in the afternoon to finish among the
group tied for 22nd at 4-over 144.
Carter Thompson, a senior from Tallahassee, Fla., carded a
pair of 4-over 74s to finish in the group tied for 35th at 148. Mark
Haghani, a freshman from Wilson, Wyo., added a 73 to his opening-round 76 to
finish in the group tied for 39th at 149.
Rounding out Penn’s six-man lineup was Carter Prince, a
freshman from Centerport, N.Y. who took 10 shots off an opening-round 82 with a
solid 2-over 72 in the afternoon to finish in the group tied for 60th
at 154.
Harvard freshman Brian Isztwan, the Inter-Ac League’s top
player in his last two seasons at Penn Charter, will enter his first Ivy League
Championship off a strong showing at Yale. Isztwan added a 3-over 73 to his
opening-round 72 to finish in the group tied for 24th at 5-over 145.
Isztwan’s Inter-Ac rival Cole Kemmerer, a freshman at Brown,
finished 70th at 163 after shaving nine shots off an opening-round
86 with a 77 in the afternoon. Kemmerer helped Episcopal Academy claim the 2016
Inter-Ac League crown, its first since 1999, as a junior with the Churchmen.
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