Nicholas helps host Yale rally to claim title in The Yale Spring Invitational

   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.

   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 18^th at 3-over 143.

   Leonard added a 76 to his opening-round 75 to end up in the group tied for 52^nd 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 60^th 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 13^th 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 22^nd 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 35^th at 148. Mark Haghani, a freshman from Wilson, Wyo., added a 73 to his opening-round 76 to finish in the group tied for 39^th 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 60^th 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 24^th at 5-over 145.

   Isztwan’s Inter-Ac rival Cole Kemmerer, a freshman at Brown, finished 70^th 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.