Uneven play has been the bane of both golf teams so far this season, but this past weekend the women’s team finally hit its stride. Meanwhile, the men’s squad still hasn’t found its swing.
Women’s Golf
The women’s team played one of its most consistent tournaments of the season at the Harvard Invitational last Sunday and Monday, shooting identical cumulative scores for both rounds and finishing fourth of five teams.
Harvard won the tournament with a 17 over 585, finishing 17 strokes ahead of second-place Penn. The Bears ended the tournament just one shot behind third-place Dartmouth, 58 strokes above par compared to Dartmouth’s 57.
“I thought we played well,” said Head Coach Danielle Griffiths.
She praised her team’s consistency and said she believes the key to her team’s success was that they “felt less pressure.”
“Once the pressure eased up … they were able to play more like themselves,” Griffiths said.
Griffiths stopped short of praising her players completely, saying that “we can definitely play better.” But she said she was “happy with the weekend.”
Stephanie Hsieh ’15 said she felt the same way. “I think our team played well,” she said.
Hsieh finished sixth individually, shooting 74-76 and coming in at eight strokes over par.
She emphasized a changed team mentality from before as the reason for her teammates’ improved performance. “Everyone had a really positive attitude,” Hsieh said.
After a last place finish at the Windy City Invitational at the start of October against some of the country’s top teams, during which Bruno was missing two competing golfers, Hsieh said it was nice to “play (with) six girls as opposed to four.”
Hsieh said she was relieved to no longer be facing such an intimidating field, adding that she focused on improving her “mental game” after the team’s previous tournament.
“I felt a lot more confident and … mentally calm and stable,” she said.
The team’s second-lowest scorer was Rosanna Lederhausen ’17, who was 15th individually and eight strokes behind Hsieh.
Lederhausen missed the team’s last-place finish in Chicago due to a concussion and said it was “great being out there” after her injury. She expressed less happiness with her play than Hsieh did, despite a low score in her return to action.
“I actually didn’t play very well, but I scrambled very well. I wasn’t hitting shots at all,” Lederhausen said. “I have a lot of practice to do.”
While the Bears were mostly satisfied with their play at the Harvard Invitational, Lederhausen and Hsieh said they have an eye on future improvement.
“We can all do a lot better,” Lederhausen said.
“In golf, there’s always something in which one can improve,” Hsieh said.
The Bears will compete next in their final tournament of the fall in the Delaware Invitational Oct. 26 and 27.
Men’s Golf
The men’s team struggled in the first round again, but their much-improved second round was not enough to drag them out of a tie for last place in the Big Five Invitational last weekend — the Bears tied for 16th in the 17-team field.
The University of Hartford won the tournament by shooting 282-280, only two strokes over par. Bruno’s Ivy League rivals Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Cornell and Dartmouth finished 4th, 8th, 10th, 13th and 14th, respectively.
The Bears shot 318 on the first day, putting them in last by four strokes, but shot the 10th-best round on day two with a 298. But that was only enough to lift them into a tie for last with Fordham University.
The players and coach were not pleased with their play.
“The first day was just bad,” said Head Coach Michael Hughes.
“It was a tough first round again,” said Justin Miller ’15.
“I know we’re all capable of shooting better,” added Nelson Hargrove ’13.5.
Hargrove was the team’s main bright spot, carding a three-over 143 to finish sixth individually. He shot 74 in the first round, but was one of only six players to break par with a 69 in round two.
“I think it was my best collegiate tournament,” Hargrove said.
Miller was Bruno’s second-best performer, finishing nine strokes behind Hargrove despite a first-round 79. He was 23rd individually in round two, turning in a 73.
“I was just kind of off on all cylinders the first day,” Miller said.
Brought down by one tough round for the third straight tournament, the Bears expressed frustration.
“It’s kind of a complicated thing,” Hughes said.
“I wish there were a secret formula,” Hargrove said, suggesting that a solution might be “having the right mentality going forward.”
Despite their troubles this week, Hargrove said the team is confident heading into their final fall tournament, the Ivy League Match Play Championship. Hargrove said one of the team’s problems was “making too many big numbers,” which he explained would not be a problem in match play. Players compete to win individual holes, so a larger number of strokes on one would be irrelevant.
“We should be pretty effective at the match play,” Hargrove said.
Hughes supported his player, saying, “I don’t think anyone wants to play us.”
“The main thing is that we’re going to stay with everyone we compete against,” Miller said.
The championship will take place in Bedminister, N.J. Oct. 19 and 20.
ADVERTISEMENT
