W. Golf Captures Third Place in Ivies

If it’s true that all’s well that ends well, then the Harvard women’s golf team’s season was a success of tremendous proportions.

In the Crimson’s final weekend, Harvard finished first in the one-day Massachusetts Intercollegiate Championships before taking top honors in the two-day Northeast Championships as well.

“It was really exciting for the team to win a two-day tournament, and to win with authority,” junior Carrie Baizer said.

The Crimson carded a 315 on its final 18 holes of the spring season—a team-record round, according to Baizer—to finish 34 strokes ahead of runner-up BU.

In addition to taking the top-team honors, Harvard boasted the individual winner as well, as captain Merry Chiampa fired the lowest score of the tournament—a final-round 73, which included Chiampa’s first career hole-in-one—to win the last tournament of her collegiate career.

“To go out like that, it made everything that much better,” Chiampa said. “But it also made it a little more bittersweet. It just makes you want to keep playing.”

“Merry deserved [to win],” said Baizer, who will take over the duties of captain from the graduating Chiampa next season. “She’s put her heart and soul into this team. Anyone would kill for that round [of 73] any time, let alone in your last collegiate round.”

Just the previous weekend, the Crimson posted its best-ever finish in the Ivy League Championships. Paced by Chiampa and junior J.J. Kang—both finished in the top 15—Harvard finished far behind Yale and Princeton but finished ahead of Brown for the first time in eight years, according to Chiampa.

“Our goal was to finish third in the Ivy League,” Chiampa said. “We can say that we knew we could do it, but until you actually accomplish it, it’s a monkey on your back.”

While the season ended on multiple high notes for the Crimson, the earlier tournaments had not been as kind to Harvard. In addition to finishing in the bottom half of the field in the Yale Invitational and the Princeton Invitational, the Crimson was unable to finish better than fifth in any of its other tournaments save the inaugural Harvard Invitational, where the squad placed third.

Although Harvard hosted the tournament, it had never played on the course before.

“It’s a slightly different mentality [when you’re hosting],” Chiampa said. “You’re more concerned with how everyone is represented on the course, and there’s more pride on the line.”

Individually, Chiampa and Kang led the Crimson over the course of the season. Chiampa was Harvard’s best individual finisher in five tournaments, and Kang took the honors in the other four.

The Crimson also got strong contributions from Baizer and sophomore Jen Cronan. Along with Chiampa and Kang, these four players competed for Harvard in every tournament during the season.

The fifth spot was often filled by freshman Erin Wilson, though freshman Jackie Rooney and sophomore Caitlin Hicks also saw action, especially in the fall season.

“It’s hard, because you don’t know whether any freshman coming in will perform,” Baizer said. “It’s great that we know that Erin is going to be a great contributor to our team, and Jackie is also a great player.”

With Chiampa graduating, Cronan heading abroad in the fall and four incoming freshman, there will be extra pressure on Baizer and Kang to provide leadership to a team that, besides them, will be very inexperienced.

“Being a captain will be extra responsibility, but it’s welcome responsibility,” Baizer said. “It’s an exciting challenge. Merry set such a great standard.”

—Staff writer Jonathan P. Hay can be reached at hay@fas.harvard.edu.