Crimson Recovers From Early Trouble

The Harvard women’s golf team took second in the Roar-ee Invitational this weekend, bouncing back from a tough first round of play to finish ahead of Ivy League rivals Princeton, Yale, Columbia, and Brown. Junior Emily Balmert (85-82-71-238) and sophomores Sarah Harvey (84-75-82-241) and Claire Sheldon (86-76-81-243) all finished in the top 10 overall for the Crimson.

The 14-team tournament was a chance for Harvard to pick up some momentum going into the Ivy League championships coming up next weekend, and the Crimson will be extremely confident after having beaten its top competitors by a significant margin. At the championships, Harvard will see the same two-day, 54-hole setup, with the first two rounds being played on the first day and the last round on the next.

“We proved ourselves and we’re in the right place to perform well next weekend,” captain Jessica Hazlett (86-84-80-250) said.

Despite leaving Mamaroneck, N.Y., very happy, not everything was always so rosy for the Crimson. In the first round of play on Friday, no Harvard player shot better than 84.

“The first round was definitely a struggle,” Hazlett said. “We teed off early, so it was pretty cold, pretty windy, and the course was pretty wet, so we weren’t getting a lot of distance off our drives.”

Hazlett and Harvey both cited the “unpredictability” of the greens as a major reason for the slow start. Not only were the greens running very fast, but they also contained grooves, making it very difficult to display strong putting.

But after finding itself far off the lead after 18 holes, the squad rebounded with the best second-round total of any team. The Crimson’s 310 was 31 strokes better than its total earlier in the day.

“The second round performance of the whole team was really quite impressive,” Harvard coach Kevin Rhoads said.

The pin placement was unchanged from the morning, and the familiarity with the course allowed the Harvard players to learn their lessons from their first-round struggles and make the necessary adjustments.

“There were a lot of pins that you couldn’t see going into the green, so knowing where the holes were in the second round was really helpful,” said Harvey, who shot a round-best 75 on her way to her eighth-place finish.

Sheldon and junior Jenny Brine (93-77-83-253) also posted their best scores of the weekend in the second round, shooting 76 and 77, respectively.

Saturday had much nicer weather and the Crimson continued to roll. Balmert shot a 71, the lowest single-round score in the tournament by three strokes. Balmert entered the day in 14th, but her remarkable third round sent her roaring into fifth place.

While Brigham Young University took first overall, solid second and third-round performances allowed Harvard to finish above the other Ivy League schools. Yale finished third, but was well behind the Crimson, tallying a total score that was 23 shots higher than that of Harvard. And while this is also the first time that the Crimson has beaten Princeton in competition since 2006, Rhoads does not want his team to spend too much time celebrating the successful weekend.

“Give them credit for this week, but we have to move on,” Rhoads said. “You’re only as good as your last tournament. While this is a good tournament, next week is what we’re shooting for and what is most important for us.”

—Staff writer Jay M. Cohen can be reached at jaycohen@fas.harvard.edu.